


Fight Monsters, Get Loot, Be Awesome

by HalflingPrincess



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Abuse of fantasy elements, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Angry Peter, Child Abandonment, Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, Homebrew DnD rules, Kid Loki (Marvel) - Freeform, Magic-Users, Minor Original Character(s), No Romance, Not Beta Read, Odin (Marvel)'s Bad Parenting, Post-Thor (2011), Violence, potential triggers to be warned, too many monsters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-05
Updated: 2018-02-26
Packaged: 2019-03-13 21:29:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 10
Words: 40,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13579284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HalflingPrincess/pseuds/HalflingPrincess
Summary: After a cursed game pulls a Jumanji style stunt, the Avengers team up with some unlikely allies/enemies.The point of fantasy characters is to be someone new, and maybe that is dangerous. So, now they're having to figure out how to survive in this fantasy world of Gods, Dragons and - it really isn't too different from home - no indoor plumbing. Feelings, abandonment and evil monsters.If you're here for romance, sorry, there are just family feels.





	1. Game Night: Thursday, 6:30

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so in my first Marvel fic (Teamwork makes the Dream Work) I mentioned at one point I was working on a story with baby Peter and Loki dealing with an identity crisis - I'm working on it! Technically, it is written, but it needs a lot of editing because I'm not a child expert so I have to work more on Loki interacting with baby Peter. SO, if you're here thinking this is that, it isn't but this one is super good!  
> I haven't played Dungeons and Dragons in a long time, but this is just inspired by DnD and isn't supposed to be super to the tee compliant. If you are a DnD player, I swear, I am not butchering the stuff on purpose - a lot stays pretty on spot while I do have a lot of original content - it is supposed to be like that. Later, there are continuity errors because, well, that is part of the game (read it, you'll see!)  
> Foreword: Loki's invasion in The Avengers failed. He stole the Tesseract though and he currently still has it hidden but that isn't important. Thor think's he is dead, which is sort of mentioned. Basically, after the invasion is stopped, Loki took the Tesseract and disappeared - they all thought he either died or is in hiding. I have to explain that now because it is part of the reason the Avengers all live together in the Tower - this is like 2-4 years after the "invasion", I'm not giving a perfect time of when but it is before any of the other Marvel movies after Avengers.

It was _supposed_ to be game night at the tower. Which, was weird to think about because it was actually a scheduled event though no one actually said so. They just all happened to be together every other Thursday and they wound up playing games instead of watching movies. It was usually nice, sometimes Wii Sports got too intense and Mario Cart was banned months ago, but otherwise, they all kind of look forward to it.

It's even more interesting when Thor shows up because explaining how _Sorry!_ works is always kind of funny. His favorite game they played was _Risk_ which, according to Tony, was only two steps away from being D&D. He was also pretty good at Yahtzee – Clint blamed him and Tony gambling (and then Bruce had to explain what dice was on Earth and how people gambled while playing it.)

Tony preferred when they all played online games – or zombie shooting games (though, he had the highest level in League of Angels). He may have also been super good at monopoly – and not the electric kind. Cards Against Humanity was also one of his best.

Clint liked hunting games on the Wii but he was really good at First-Person-Shooter games but he was super good at charades, Headbandz and Trivia Pursuit.

Nat was best at puzzle games, and card games. Tetris was banned after she kept beating everyone and she wasn't allowed to deal during their card games. (She had the second highest LoA score behind Tony and kept stealing his slaves.)

Steve was really good at just about any Atari game they slapped in front of him and cards. But, he and Thor were really good at war games, a game of Stratego between those two could last all night.

Bruce somehow always won at Operation (Tony said it was cheating since he was a doctor, to which he was always reminded Bruce isn't an MD.) Then there was Clue, which he somehow always got before anyone else.

A few games had been banned – Scrabble, Tetris, Mario Cart, Tennis, a few more.

  
  


It was a good day, no world-ending disaster, no stock dropping, no rain. It was a really nice day and they were going to play their usual board games and eat junk food that got delivered while arguing over whose turn was next. A good Thursday.

  
  


“I thought we agreed to no D&D,” Tony said, eyeing the starter set he really didn't know they even had. No one even claimed to have bought it and having _everything_ wasn't something you just accidentally do. No, these games took planning, timing, and no life. Or, that was Tony's opinion. Thor had said D&D sounded fun, but his life was basically a giant D&D game (again, according to Tony.)

“We never actually said no,” Bruce said as he entered the sitting room. “I didn't even know we had the handbook and such.”

“We don't,” Tony said, sipping from his glass of whatever health smoothie he'd made earlier. He seriously hadn't been paying attention but it was blue and tasted pretty good so no complaints from him. Health drinks were health drinks.

“We're playing D&D?” Clint came in with Nat, “I wanna be an archer.” They both sat on one of the couch, placing bowls of popcorn, Chex mix, and Clint was drinking from a green cup with a stupid curly straw everyone hated.

“Alright, Legolas,” Tony rolled his eyes. They waited until everyone got into the room because no point deciding to play if everyone isn't around, right? So, within fifteen minutes, everyone is filled in on some rules – Jarvis is called Dungeon Master – and they're all filling out their character sheets, with the help of Jarvis. He's in charge of making sure everything is in order and filling in on rules while they were filling in sheets, which sure, it seemed like a lot, but Jarvis was easy to work with. 

“So,” Tony looked at the table, “now we need a map.”

“ _Sir-_ ” Jarvis is cut off when the table where the map was going to appear turned bright gold and they were all swallowed by the almost burning light.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team wakes up in a strange land and new skins. And there are monsters. Is Thor's first kill going to be a giant rabbit?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think like half of this is me abusing the descriptions of outfits because I have no fucking clue what that cloth under armor is and I spent like 3 hours reading writing blogs, wiki pages and scrolling through Google Images to get good enough outfits. Um, foreward: I steal some of my monsters from different people - some are legit DnD monsters, some are made up by other people; both stolen and "legit" monsters have my own twists on them so if you Do play DnD and recognize a monster but they're "wrong", the world they are in isn't exactly DnD - just inspired by. I abuse a lot of technical things, but it is okay. *magical fairy dust* Fantasy imagination depression *rainbow from my hands*  
> Also, I forgot to mention Tony does have his arc reactor - but it blends into his armor thingy that goes across his shoulders so yeah. It is more like a symbol instead of what is keeping him alive (it comes more later, shh) - lots of characters get symbols so woooo

Tony woke up first, groaning loudly. His chest and limbs felt heavy and his head was swimming. Did someone attack? “Jarvis?”

No answer.

“Tony?”

Tony sat up, realizing they weren't in the living room anymore. They were in the middle of the woods, and his team looked... off. “Steve?”

Steve was rubbing his head some as he sat up. “Where are we?” The blonde was dressed super weird. His casual clothes were gone and he was wearing steel armor - the cuirass, pauldron that was steel on the right side coming up some and the other side was just dark leather, vambraces of steel and gold that seemed more decorative than protective with their swirling lines, his cuisse were made of thick black leather while his pants were white. Silver greaves finished the whole armored look with thick leather boots and Tony had to admit, Steve pulled off the whole ‘holy knight’ look. The surcoat cloth was white, no designs over the fabric as it was just under the decorative armor. The chest plate had an oddly familiar symbol etched into the metal - Mjolnir. 

On Steve’s left was a large shield, pointed at the bottom and about four feet top to bottom, maybe three feet wide and rounded at the top - Mjolnir and some matching decorative symbols decorated the gold and steel. To his right was a sort of bludgeon, long and heavy on one end to swing easily. Sure, the outfit was odd, but what really threw Tony was the way his blue eyes  _ glowed _ . It was like an electrical blue, shining as Steve looked over their other companions while he was rubbing his head. Even his hair was a whiter color that seemed to glow unnaturally.

“Natasha?” There was a weird worried sound to Steve’s voice as he watched Natasha lift herself off the ground. For some reason, Tony felt compelled to shy away from Natasha, a small whispering of distrust coming off of her. He ignored it as her looks were far more pressing.

Unlike Steve who mostly just got a costume change and a sort of heavenly aura, Natasha was...

“Are you a lizard?!” Clint practically shouted, jumping up from where he was sprawled on the ground beside her.

Nat looked more like a demon than a lizard, she had horns above her temple that curled back towards her ears (which were pointed), and her face wasn't lizard-like but she had a tail and that was probably what Clint meant when he asked. Her skin was pale but had an odd lavender/gray tint in the right light that made her look a bit odd with the fire red hair and maroon eyes.

Her clothes really weren't much different from her usual catsuit - black leather tights-like pants, almost knee-high boots, her shoulders were exposed and her top was a blend of scaled metal plates and black leather and she wore fingerless gloves that came up to her elbows - black cloth as well. Around her shoulders was a black cloak that seemed to fade into the shadows rather than drag the ground, the hood was down and it was flipped over her side which was how her entire form had been exposed.

Everyone was a bit hesitant about approaching further but Steve snapped out of it first and moved to assist everyone to their feet.

Bruce – Hulk actually – had already stood by the time Nat was standing. He was looking peculiarly at the armor – well, it was just two vambraces on his forearms and spaulders held in place by leather straps going over his chest and holding a huge battleax to his back. He had boots and fur-lined pants on, but otherwise, he was pretty much Hulk looking. There were some darker green markings on his skin, but that wasn't  _ too  _ unusual.

“Hulk?” Steve carefully approached, hand up in a calming manner.

“No,” Hulk said, “Bruce.”

Everyone relaxed some. Tony was on his feet, patting the chest plate and looking over his own things. Oh, that wouldn't do. He had two swords and, for some reason, less armor than Steve. Gauntlets, pauldrons, and schynbalds over his boots. Most of his vital areas? Exposed with only the linen pants, leather chaps and the linen surcoat to cover the rest of his body. He had a hood on his surcoat though, oversized and able to hang low on his face but he didn’t pull it up. “Where's Thor?”

Steve glanced over, “He's a few miles away.”

“How do you know that?” Clint asked and before Steve could answer, Tony burst out laughing.

“I vote Clint is now named Legolas,” Tony said while laughing.

Clint’s outfit was pretty much the stereotypical wood elf style - earthy green hood and cloak with brown leather armor. He had the most covering, his “skirt” - Tony would call it at multiple points - going past his knees with leather pants under. It was the lightest of all their outfits but Tony was going to have a field day making elf jokes. The belt around his waist had a number of throwing daggers and there was a quiver of arrows on his back, a longbow was laid beside where he’d been sprawled.

“Oh,” Clint glanced over to Nat, who was also trying to hide her amusement. “Wait.” Clint turned some, inspecting them all. “Okay, we were in the Tower. We were filling out character sheets...”

Nat nodded, and Tony crossed his arms over his chest, gauntlets making a dull clicking noise as they hit one another. Steve was slowly moving away, but he seemed attentive. “I think we are  _ in  _ the game.”

“Jumanji style?” Tony asked, looking around, “That doesn't make sense.”

“We need to locate Thor,” Nat said, noticing Steve trying to slip into the woods. “I think Steve has a trail.”

“Is he like a bloodhound or something?” Tony asked, moving beside Bruce the Goliath to follow through the woods. Steve was pushing branches aside, treading lightly as he did when they went on missions into unknown areas. He still had that soldier vibe which made him easy to follow and trust so that hadn't changed.

“I just,” He turned sharply, “I feel something.”

They decided not to talk about it until they got to their God friend, who they found in all his Asgardian glory... arguing with a rabbit.

“Unhand my cape before I smite you were you lay!”

The rabbit was actually kind of big with tall ears and eyes like red golf balls - it came about to his knee so it wasn’t playing in size - and it was chewing on Thor's cape, hopping after it as he twirled to get away. It was funny to watch him argue with the rabbit and Tony wished he had a way to videotape it.

“Thor,” Steve called, “What are you doing?”

“Friends!” Thor's voice thundered, the rabbit forgotten as he approached them. “Bruce, you are looking enormous!”

“Uh, thanks?” Bruce had broken a bunch of branches on their off-road trek, but he was doing pretty good. “Do you know where we are?”

Thor gave him a confused look, “Is this not our game?”

“What character did you pick?” Clint asked, a hood drawn over his head. The rabbit scampered off once realizing Thor had given up toying with it.

“I chose the Tabaxi, it sounded the most interesting,” Thor shrugged, swinging Mjolnir, “I am disappointed I am not a cat.”

Tony glanced to Nat, who was obviously thinking. She spoke after a second, “Thor is a God, maybe whatever put us in here couldn't alter that.”

_ “ _ So,” Tony said, rubbing his goatee, “Thor is still a God. If my thinking is right, Steve is an Aasimar, which would explain his drawing to Thor.”

Steve had unknowingly moved closer to Thor, that odd glow to his eyes gone though he still had an odd light surrounding him. Thor didn't seem to mind Steve's closeness as he threw his arm over the Aasimar's shoulders and shook him in a friendly way. “I have no clue what those words mean,” Thor laughed but he was obviously enjoying this. “This is like an outing with my friends on Asgard!”

Tony wasn't going to point out that it obviously wasn't - Nat was a demon lady, not a warrior.

_ “ _ We need to get out,” Bruce said, “We have no clue what brought us here or why.”

_ “ _ Maybe we can use Steve for that,” Clint suggested, “Like a magical dowsing rod.”

_ “ _ Or,” Thor suggested, “We complete this quest and then go for an exit.” He was having way too much fun here. This is feeling way too meta with Thor having so much fun and Tony is really hoping -  _ maybe  _ \- the game is new and it was supposed to do this. Maybe they’re actually in a simulation. That thought comforts Tony a big - Jarvis is awesome and could totally do that...

Nat shrugged, “What did they have to do in Jumanji? Continue the game? Maybe if we play, we will find the exit.” Tony wanted to argue that they needed to leave now in case it wasn’t make-believe, but Natasha had a point. There was only one way out and that was forward.

_ “ _ We need to find a city or a road,” Bruce said, “I can't keep walking through trees.”

_ “ _ Steve,” Clint asked, “Can you find a city?” Steve looked confused then seemed to realize they were asking if he could feel one.

Steve looked thoughtful for a moment, that odd glowing returning, “I think there is... something that way.” He pointed towards the woods, Tony guesses East, then shrugged. “But I mostly just sense Thor.”

_ “ _ East it is,” Clint said, moving with the most ease through the woods while Thor and Bruce were having to practically tear their way through. Steve seemed to move much like Tony, having to move around trees and under branches with a bit of breaking branches and stomping through brush. Nat moved in her usual way, slipping in and out of shadows and reappearing at odd places here or there – though this time, she really seemed to slip into shadows...

 

 

Steve was right, East had a small village but he had sensed their church which had appeared first on the road – they only realized it was a sort of temple when Steve kept trying to approach it. There was no marking on the outside to indicate its purpose or if anyone was even there. Either way, it could be a good place to rest as the sun was starting to set.

_ “ _ Welcome,” a short and stout man in a cloak said, leaving the small temple to greet the group, “Well met!”

Thor perked up, “Well met, friend!” The cloaked man removed his hood, revealing a thick beard but shaved head lined with symbols and markings and a face with kind blue eyes and wrinkles around his mouth. He bowed deeply – to Steve – and flashed a kind smile.

_ “ _ Please, come, rest, you must be here about the,” the man looked around, “the beast.”

Tony perked up because this sounds fun finally, “Beast?”

_ “ _ Yes, come, come, rest. You must have traveled far if you are coming from the West,” he went to urge them to enter before noticing Natasha, whose hood was drawn over her face but the dark colors gave her an unapproachable feel. “Is the tiefling with you, Aasimar?”

_ “ _ Uh,” Steve glanced to where the small man was looking wearily, “Oh, yes. She is a good friend.” With that, the man perked up again, urging her to come in as well. The temple wasn't small, but it wasn't huge. There were some alters and a lot of candles lining the walls and on stands around the front and sides of the room, large offering bowls up by a tall window.

_ “ _ Hermod smiles on us for he sent help is this great time of need,” the man said, hands clasped before him. Thor started at that.

_ “ _ Hermod? He is here? I would much like to speak to him,” He looked around and then to Steve, who just shrugged.

_ “ _ No,” the man said, then shook his hands from his robes, “I must apologize, I have not introduced myself. I am Sego, the keeper of this temple.”

_ “ _ You're a cleric,” Steve pointed out, then he looked confused. “How do I know that?”

_ “ _ The heavenly power flows through me as easily as it does the wind,” Sego said proudly, “I am a cleric under Heimdall, so I have been in this temple all my life as a watcher of the village.”

Thor wanted to speak again, but Bruce placed a hand on his arm, “I don't think they are your friends he speaks of.”

_ “ _ No,” Thor said, “I do not think so. But, if we can speak to these versions,” he paused, “I am unsure if they would help.”

Sego finally took the time to look over all of them before finally taking a closer look at Thor. The cleric seemed startled and went into a fit of activity, “My Lord! It has been so long since we were visited! You must forgive my insolence!” Thor seemed a bit shocked as things were suddenly moving, Sego was urging them all to take a seat and he was calling to other people in a language only Thor and Steve seemed to understand. Women in robes and men with shaved heads came from seemingly nowhere and were giving them all food and wine.

_ “ _ You have no need for such flattering,” Thor said, taking a bowl of soup and thanking the woman that handed it to him, “I protect this realm with or without flattery.”

Sego praised him for that, thanking him and promising if they needed anything he would fetch it. Thor just shook his head at that but thanked him anyway.

 

 

_ “ _ You mean to tell me,” Tony was leaned close to the group, “The Norse Gods are the Pantheon in this realm?” They’d been given a little room in the back of the temple with pallets to sit or lay on and all the food they needed. Steve had set some candles up and explained some of what the cleric told him - basic information since apparently Aasimar often appear with little knowledge. Not all, Sego had said, but some though few had ever passed through the temple they currently were in.

_ “ _ The Dungeon Master picks the Pantheon,” Clint pointed out, “Perhaps Jarvis chose the Norse as it would be amusing.”

Natasha nodded, “Yes, unless this world isn't completely based on the game we were going to start. Perhaps our forms were set, but maybe whoever trapped us figured Thor would get changed and the Norse Gods being the ruling deities was to be a cruel joke.”

Thor hummed, “That would make sense. I would have become angry and it could have caused a problem, though if I had changed I would be a cat currently.”

Steve’s brows furrowed as he tried to remember the basics Jarvis had given them, “But some of our features, they aren't aligned with the rules of the game.”

Tony spoke us then, “Well, it is an RPG, so we can sort of bend the rules to how we want while still following the guidelines. I mean, we don't even know if Nat is fireproof or if you can do magic.” There was a collective silence. “Steve, you should have Sego teach you as much as possible so we can be sort of set up.”

_ “ _ Why me?”

_ “ _ You're the angel cop,” Clint said, sipping the wine he still had, “and a cleric.”

_ “ _ How did you know that?” Steve narrowed his eyes some. Clint gave a sheepish smile.

_ “ _ I may have glanced at your sheet while you were filling it out.”

Thor hummed again, stroking his beard, “We should look for this beast in the morning.”

Sego had told them how a feral beast was roaming and snatching children and tearing holes through the earth. From how he made it sound, the thing was huge. It showed up at night with the sound of a thousand clicks like metal on a window and then, a child or some livestock was missing and the beast was gone. It wasn't every night, just every few but it was enough that people were scared.

_ “ _ We should do some searching tonight since he said it comes out at night. Steve, you get to working with Sego to learn some magic or whatever you need to so we can get out of here, Thor, you and me can go talk to come locals and Legolas and Nat can do some scouting,” Tony nodded and they all moved to do their assignment. Almost as good as back home, but usually Steve was calling the shots so, for Tony, the change was a bit nice.

_ “ _ Are you sure we should split up?” Bruce asked, glancing around the group.

_ “ _ Bruce, you can help us if we get into a scrap,” Clint said as he examined his bow. “If this thing is as big as they said it was.” He pulled a few throwing knives from his belt and flashed them in the candlelight, smiling widely. “It could be fun.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My next update will be in a few days as I am taking a lot of time editing and checking spelling because some words aren't "legit" words so I have to make sure they are right on my own without Grammarly... This is going to take longer than probably all my other fics, but the chapters are more detailed than others. I'm also working on classes and personal issues at the moment, so that will also affect my writing. (I am fairly certain I spell Aasimar wrong the first 6 chapters so far? By the Norns I am a mess currently.) If anyone needs information about characters, feel free to comment but the next few chapters are in each person's POV so you can understand their feelings as they come to terms with this world. (I did Tony this chapter because he's a human sorcerer but his sorcery comes in later, don't worry.)  
> 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Following Clint's POV as they fight... a giant... ew.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so, as before, a lot of this is twisted around from the actual DnD rules, actual mythology, and actual folklore because sometimes I hate how certain things are. Example: Pixies and Fairies. I ain't even going to rant about it, but yeah.  
> I might do a double update today because I had lots of editing time after the hospital yesterday (Gasp, I know) but I'm alive, I'm here, I'm queer.

In the village was nice, not too much damage... but around? The fields where livestock had been kept – though it wasn't far from the village, it was basically the backyards of homes, - was a mess. Tunnel holes came up and seemingly exploded from the ground. Torn bits of cattle or sheep could be found along the entrance of the massive holes, the grass was either killed or stained by the bloodshed. Whatever was moving through the night did it swiftly and wildly.

Some trees had what seemed like drill holes in them, but big drill holes, as if whatever moved would go along the sides of trees at times instead of staying on the ground at all times. Clint could put his fist into the holes some and they went in a weaving pattern that was a bit unnerving, but Clint didn't let it bother him. Nat was scoping out another area the locals had said was a hit with the beast, and Bruce was investigating the tunnels. They hoped to find some of the snatched children, but the carnage of the fields left Clint with a not so sure feeling in his stomach.

Moonlight bathed the battered field, giving some light in the darkness but surprisingly, Clint could see fairly well in the pale bluish light. No birds moved and crickets sang in the distance, a few frogs were close to where he was perched in an oak tree but other than that the night was calm and quiet. Clouds were rare, more like a constant fog that seemed to surround and cover the ground was there but it didn’t his eyesight too much.

Clint's eyes slightly unfocused as he was listening; his mind going slightly offline. Like he was on standby, a feeling that was between sleep and awake where he could sense all that was around him but at the same time, he wasn't part of any of it. A warm feeling – almost like a breeze – circled around him, sharpening different sounds before softening them and sharpening others. Though he could see clearly, his eyes were unfocused. His mind was a soft buzz - not the white silence that one gets when they zone out, but a sort of soft warmth that held him close as if he was asleep. He drifted and he could free the bark under his boots and the leaves that brushed his shoulders and hair, the life in the tree itself flowed into him.

Then, there was clicking. It wasn't loud, not nearly as loud as the cleric made it seem, but it was there and Clint snapped out of his trance. The energy was still there, the warm flow in the air almost like a midsummer breeze, but at the same time, it was not as pronounced. The air itself was cold and kind of thin – they were probably on a higher elevation. He couldn't see the threads in the air connecting the ground to the sky or the stars to the grass, but he felt them. They knitted together and wrapped around him in a sort of comforting way.

A shadow passed, sliding close to one of the farmer's homes. The building was vacant, but Nat had put a candle in the window to make it seem as though there was someone home and the door was left open. A small lamb was tied up in the house, its bleating was louder as the odd slithering sounds moved through the shadows.

Piercing the night was a sharp whistle and Clint was out of the tree, moving across rooftops yet still he was in shadows. The dark spots, they moved naturally and he moved as if the wind guided him through the dark. He was going to have to ask if anyone else was feeling this weird stuff, but at the moment, he was stringing an arrow and sliding from the roof to the ground. He was still hidden, but he couldn't risk the monster seeing him before Nat or Bruce got there.

The tail end of the beast was caught in moonlight and Clint visibly cringed. “Giant bugs, great,” he grumbled and moved with less stealth to see if the giant insect had slipped into the house or if it was actually kind of smart. The giant centipede seemed to circle the small shack of the trap house once before it started for the door with an almost alarming speed. Clint knew no one was in the house aside from the lamb, but it was still creepy to see a giant bug move so fast. He’d never been a fan of the creepy crawly creatures and this one sealed the deal for him never like them.

He let loose his arrow and it didn't really do much other than cause the bug to stop moving forward and now back up to inspect what had hit its tough exoskeleton.

_ “ _ Is that-” Clint almost jumped when Nat slipped from the shadows. She seemed to melt from the shadows, though he was certain it was nothing more than her sneaking as he had. Otherwise, she was scarier than he originally felt and he  _ really  _ didn’t want to deal with his best friend being a demon at the moment. 

_ “ _ A giant bug, and jeez, Nat warn a man, er, elf,” He strung another arrow just as the centipede seemed to spot him and Nat while letting out a loud cry and charging. Nat threw herself over, flipping Clint over as well but they moved together often so he was prepared and managed to hit the giant beast on the underside as it had reared up in its charge.

The underside of insects was softer than the top, but he really didn't want to have to make it charge just for a shot. “Do you have anything that could be helpful?”

Nat put her hands up in a sort of shrug before slipping into the shadows again, when she appeared again, she was closer to the monstrous bug. She slid across the ground with ease, two curved blades in the air as she aimed to slice the underside of the creature. Clint let another arrow loose, but it bounced off the shell of the head and landed elsewhere, almost pathetically.

Bruce would be there soon, but if Clint's sneaking suspicion was right, poison dripped from the creatures large mandibles. Clint couldn't remember if it was centipedes or millipedes that hurt when they bit but he really didn't care at the moment because bugs are gross and this bug is the grossest. Almost twelve feet long and about four feet in diameter (if bugs can be measured that way) with creepy legs that lifted the bug a good three feet off the ground when it moved, he was not looking forward to fighting more of these.

Nat, when Clint looked over again, was on the back of the insect, her hands glowing a bright red along with her eyes and hair, giving her a hellish look in the darkness. The beast let out a loud cry, curling around to go to throw Nat off or bite into her, but it was cut off rather quickly when a large battle ax cut into the side of its neck, cracking hard exoskeleton and sinking into the softer bits. Green liquid dripped and the insect was now just squirming to try and get away rather than attack.

Bruce was there and he hit the beast again with his fist as he left the ax in the insect, that and the flames that rose up on the back of the beast were enough to make the fighting end. Clint hopped off his perch, smiling brightly to his friends while Bruce was wiping insect juices off. The giant was grimacing as he shook a particularly gooey clump of insect off his hand.

_ “ _ I now know what it feels like to be the shoe that crushes a bug. This is so gross.”

Nat was looking down at her hands, the red glow was gone and her hair was back to being hidden under the cloak. Clint was going to ask what it was about, but she suddenly looked very tired. In fact, she actually collapsed only to be caught just before she hit the ground by Bruce. He looked a bit shocked and gave Clint a worried look as the redhead just slumped in a way that was scarily close to being dead.

_ “ _ Let's get her back to the temple,” Bruce suggested, lifting the tiefling easily, careful of her tail. “We can inform Sego the bug shouldn't be bothering them anymore.”

_ “ _ The children?” Clint asked, walking beside Bruce.

_ “ _ No survivors,” Bruce said, voice low and hard. Clint had a feeling there wouldn't be, not after he realized their foe's bite would poison them. The walk back to the temple wasn't long, a few moments, but it was a tense silence.

  
  


The village lost a lot to the bug, but they were happy either way the next day. Ladies and men were thanking the team, promising them if they needed anything they could have it. Steve just asked where a big city was and a scholar (well, he was just an older man who had done some traveling, Tony figured he was a merchant, not a scholar) gave a map over. “Be careful, we are far from a city and there are dangers along the way.”

With that, they were given two horses and a load of supplies. Steve was reading a book Sego had sent and Clint was zoned out, perched on the little steed. Some hours later, Nat was still out cold, carried by Bruce while Tony and Thor walked ahead of the horses. It was going to be a long trip, but at least they were on a road. The woods were quiet – or well, compared to the city in the world they came from it was. There were birds flitting about, singing and calling to one another and different animals would look over before scampering off. Deer with moss covered antlers would watch them warily before running away, rabbits would all sit up and share looks before disappearing into the woods.

Clint was still zoned out when Nat woke up. “Is he sleeping?” Tony asked Thor, who glanced back at Clint. His eyes were open, but they were glazed over and he swayed with the horse but somehow kept his balance. The horse seemed to understand that Clint wasn't fully aware of their surrounding while also knowing that Clint was more aware than the rest. It walked with ease, shifting to one side or another if it felt like Clint was starting to lean. 

The threads, they were back and they tugged at him, wrapped around his body and pulled before loosening as if they were trying to connect to him more, but didn’t want to push the connection. It was like a net, tying and holding but still being open and wide. There were threads that connected each of his friends, they shone brightly and pulled tighter than the rest of the net. Part of Clint remembered reading about theories of how everyone was connected by threads of fate or whatever, but these were different - he knew it.

Bruce had a dimmer set of threads that wound around but never really touched him, Nat’s threads were burning and a flame-like aura surrounded her in a fire that burned if Clint tried to reach out to it. Tony had a web similar to the one that connected to Steve, but he was freer rather than being light. Steve was surrounded by a glow that, honestly, reminded Clint of heaven and if angels existed, he was certain Steve looked like one. Thor had threads all around, coming off like lightning - it was inspecting these threads that Clint pieced together that it was magic weaved around them.

_ “ _ Ah,” Thor said thoughtfully to Tony, “he is in a trance. Elves, you see, they do not need sleep. Though our friend is not versed in magic, magic is versed in elves. He is aware of all this while aware of none of it. Loki,” Thor paused, looking a bit sad as he walked, “he was well versed in magic. I cannot see the threads of magic as he could, but our friend feels the threads - perhaps he sees them. They pull at each of us, connecting us to the magic in the universe, the energy that gives all life and meaning.”

Tony shook his head some, “I don't do magic, but magic is science we can't explain according to some.” His eyes went towards Thor because it  _ was  _ his little … girlfriend? … that had mentioned it. She was quoting someone else, but now wasn't the time for knowing quotes.

Thor clasped his shoulder piece, “Aye, my friend. They are one in the same yet not at all.”

Tony gave a smile because, once again, that made no sense.

Clint snapped out of his trace and both horses suddenly stopped. Steve even looked up from his book, eyes glowing faintly while Clint moved to a crouching position on the old saddle. The horse barely swayed at his changing position, just lowered its ears back as it, too, tried to see what was ahead. “There is something ahead,” the archer whispered, drawing his bow carefully. His dark green eyes glinted in the light, changing from an almost brown tint to a bright green that resembled new leaves on a tree in spring.

Nat was standing beside Bruce behind the horses and walkers, both got ready for an attack since they really weren’t sure what to get ready for.

Then, a large creature covered in sod, flowers, dirt and other plant life stepped out of the woods, two smaller creatures at its side. The large one moved slow, front legs drawn kind of close to her chest, elbows bent and large before going to the upper part of her arms that connected to a sturdy torso that held a long neck and a flat jaw. The eyes of the beast were hidden behind a veil of flowers and vines that swayed lightly as she walked. The body was like a rolling hill, the spine lined with bright flowers and the sides spotted with rocks and grass before coming to a pale green underbelly that was actual flesh all held up by powerful hind legs. A large tail dragged behind it, looking like a thick stem with large elephant leaves at the end. It was bipedal but could possibly run on all four for a faster attack or escape.

The two smaller ones didn't come up nearly as high as the first, probably being four feet tall max. One had an array of flowers and what looked like gemstones – raw stones that covered the flesh of her front legs and a spine lined with the gemstones while pink, purple and blue flowers covered most of her belly and sides. The other was more foliage, waving green leaves on his elbows and draped almost completely in ferns. They played, biting and tumbling over one another as they crossed the road completely oblivious to the traveling group that was stopped.

The large one, it noticed them, watching under her veil as Clint leveled his bow. She tilted her head to the side some, still as her children remained unaware of the possible threat. Instead of letting the arrow go, Clint lowered the weapon and nodded slightly to the beast who, after staring for another second, nodded back ever so slightly.

Then, she too joined her children in crossing the road.

_ “ _ What was that?” Tony asked, having noticed the way Clint and the behemoth stared at one another before he lowered his weapon.

_ “ _ She just wants to get to the spring,” Clint said, seating himself again, “She wasn't going to attack us like I originally thought. It was her children that startled me.”

Thor hummed some, “It was the threads, was it not? They were not drawn tight as they would be if we were under attack.”

_ “ _ Yeah, how did-”

_ “ _ I may not be a very good magic user, but I do know how to use some,” Thor gave a smile and they were walking again. After the failed invasion and Loki going missing, Thor was rare to come visit. New York gave him painful memories and while the team wasn’t one to rub salt in wounds, there was no love lost when Loki disappeared and Thor rarely mentioned the younger God around them for that reason. Clint suspected Thor still grieved, still looked for the Trickster, but he wasn’t on Earth - SHIELD would have known and informed the Thunderer. 

Still, Clint couldn’t help feeling a bit bad for Thor. He had loved his brother and sure, Clint  _ hated  _ Loki with a burning passion for the whole brain control thing, but Thor was a good enough guy and didn’t deserve that pain. It was painfully obvious how Thor idolized the drama queen, but now wasn’t the time to be dwelling on dead things and the past - even if Loki would actually be of some benefit in their situation.

  
  


Sometime later, Steve and Clint traded spots with Nat and Tony so they could take a break from walking and the other two could stretch their legs. Bruce seemed fine to keep walking and Thor wasn't even tired. Clint was enjoying slipping in and out of the woods while Steve was carrying a casual conversation with Thor.

Steve would sometimes get this odd glow around him. The cloth under his armor, they noticed, had a hammer on the back as well as on the armor itself. Sego said it was the symbol of the God his work was for and showed the curling musical horn that represented Heimdall. Thor had gazed at the symbol fondly for some time, perhaps missing his home more than he’d originally thought he would.

_ “ _ We should find a place to set up camp,” Thor said, glancing towards the setting sun, “Unless we have torches we should not travel at night.”

Tony nodded, “We can set up on the side of the road. Clint, since you don't sleep, you can be the guard. Bruce, you need to rest for sure you have been walking all day with only a few breaks every few hours. Nat, you doing better?”

_ “ _ Yeah,” she said, “I just overexerted myself yesterday.” Her hood was drawn over her head and the cloak swallowed her up like a shadow, her tail peeked under the fabric at times and Clint sometimes found himself staring at it like a cat staring at a string toy. Would it hurt if he stepped on it… Is the barb pointy enough to cut… These are important questions.

Steve nodded, “Your first time using magic and you pushed it. Sego said some rest and you should be okay.”

Thor nodded, reaching up to put his hair in a bun with a hair tie. How the bright pink hair tie didn’t get left behind in their world, Clint would never know. Stormy blue eyes met Nat’s blood red ones as he was trying to get a strand to stop falling, “You should try meditation, Loki said it helped him connect the threads better. It is why Clint goes into trances.”

_ “ _ Trances? I do not,” Clint said, actually snapping out of one, “I just... get distracted.”

_ “ _ You are the least distracted of us,” Thor claimed, “Now, we should set up camp before it becomes too late.”

They didn't really have a tent, but they had some blankets and with some work, everyone had a place to rest. The horses were tied off and Steve was a weird source of light while Nat started a small fire, careful not to push herself too far again. They ate some of the meat and bread and chatted about anything and nothing - what they were missing, their plans to push forward, some theories of  _ how  _ and  _ why _ . Clint was somewhere in a tree, though he added to the conversation sometimes. Mostly, he watched the different beings move around in the woods, could almost hear some sort of laughter or chatter in the distance or hidden in the leaves, but nothing alarmed him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OHHOHO No lie, this was One of my Favorites to write because I loved the whole magical essence thing and I got to say, I am going to say that about a lot of chapters... Next up: Steve the Aasimar Cleric. (Or is it Cleric Aasimar?)   
> Remember: any character questions that aren't answered in the story, just ask and I can sort whatever out for ya!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group comes across a new mountain city - Himinn Höfn (Sky Harbor) - where they meet some more party members to join their fantastic quest. Also, a disembodied hand and a giant Death Widow joins the crew.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was fun to write because I love the holy magical aspect of Steve. I love writing how different beings connect to the world and the universe and - I just love it.

There surprisingly weren't that many threatening things in the woods. Steve couldn't feel them as directly as Clint, but he could feel something. It was like a thin thread tied around him, tugging him towards the woods – South – but he remained on the road with the team. Their horses weren't big, just little farm horses still wearing yolks, but they were a major help to how far they traveled during the day. The team would stop for an hour around noonish if they woke before the sun appeared, eating some food and letting the horses graze and relax before swapping riders and continuing on for some hours.

Much like Clint, Steve had to focus on the energy but he needed sleep. His energy wasn't the threads of the universe, it came from holy light. If he felt too exhausted, he would fall into a deep sleep until he was recharged – much like what happened to Natasha after she overexerted her powers, only his could last a while. The thought of falling into such a deep sleep scared him slightly; he wasn’t overly fond of having to sleep again even if he’d been awake for years. There was like a thin thread tied around him, tugging him towards the woods – South – but he remained on the road with the team.

According to Steve's book, the tug he felt was celestial power or some celestial being, be it friend or for. He felt a tie to Thor, but it was slack as Thor was always open to allowing Steve to draw from his power, and only drew tight when Clint would tense as if there was a monster nearby. It also suggested the possibility of him actually having wings – much like an angel – but he was “young” so they wouldn't be physical at this point. Sego had said this book was written by a man who'd never met a “young” Aasimar, so he had no clue _how_ they got their wings. Not many Aasimar sit around giving recounts of their lives as that was selfish and took time from their "missions". Most served a purpose of being justice in a land of rough and questionable laws while the Gods were unable to tend to every single matter of man.

Despite disliking the fact that he was tied to a Norse God, Steve had to admit he had many advantages. He could heal his friends if they were injured and use a few other powers. The book wasn't the clearest as it was given to priests (or priestesses) and clerics when they were training to give their lives to a holy route. Sego said that Steve was young and Aasimar need guidance lest they fall, but the old cleric knew little else.

Steve shivered at the thought of that - _falling_ -, but he went back to focusing on the road ahead of them. If he focused, he could feel different threads leading different ways and if he tried harder he could see them faintly. They warmed or cooled faintly aside from the one linking to Thor, it was piercing like a bolt of lightning, white-hot yet not hot at all if Steve focused on the energy it radiated. One had a faint green glow that flickered if he didn't focus completely, the power rippled like a flame and it was the second brightest. There were a few others, but they were dark and if he touched them he felt a sharp pain. One of those connected to Natasha, a razor-sharp black thread that glinted with red flames when he touched it.

The team seemed to notice how Steve and Natasha began to avoid one another, as if they feared and loathed each other but they still chatted. It was not a conscious choice, that much was clear to everyone. It was just as everyone felt – Nat was sneaky and they feared her even though they knew her. They slightly drew towards Steve, chattering absentmindedly or just sitting a bit closer when they would break from traveling. Nat had the opposite effect; she sat apart from them usually and would keep her thoughts to herself mostly - but it wasn't like that was  _too_ odd for the assassin. Clint had commented it wasn't too different from her usual self, and he made a bigger effort to remain her close companion.

Sego claimed it was her race, they instilled distrust and fear into others for they were an Infernal race. Steve basically summarized she was a sort of demon, though there were actual demons in the realm that was not to be confused with teiflings. Sego told him, if they cared for her as they seemed to, they would need to be constantly alert as her kind are prone to be attacked for no reason. If they entered a large city, they risked being stopped and questions for little to no reason. Her race wrought suspicion and fear into the hearts of men while Steve's kind calmed and relaxed weary souls.

It was a bit worrisome, but Steve wasn't going to let their friend become an enemy just because they felt suspicious. He tried to make sure she didn't feel weird, but she just said she was used to it.

 _“_ I am a suspicious person in our world, just now it is more than just the feeling I give off,” she shrugged while they ate some rabbit Clint had shot that day. It was the fourth day of their trip. They were constantly watched by forest creatures or maybe monsters, but few approached. Once Clint stared at a single tree for some time before snapping out of it and chasing after them.

 _“_ I just,” Steve sighed, “I hate that we are all shying away just because of it.”

Bruce shrugged, “We just have to accept it. As long as we remember we aren't these people then we will remember who we are. If we get too sucked in...”

There was a chance they'd never leave.

Tony was counting the days, but Bruce theorized that time was different. They could be in a pocket dimension where time wasn't even moving back home or time was much slower or time was moving the exact same. No one could be sure, but they were silently counting the days.

Day six, they reached a crossroads.

 _“_ What does the map say?” Clint asked Tony, who had the map from the first village.

 _“_ Says we should go North,” he said, laying the map out for them all to look at.

Steve shifted uneasily, “I think we should go South.”

 _“_ South?” Nat asked, “Why?” The map didn't show any village or city that way, just more roads. They'd need supplies soon, so going South didn't seem the best... but the map was obviously old and perhaps the man who wrote it hadn't actually been South? There were a lot of possibilities.

 _“_ I... I feel something,” he said, shrugging lightly. Thor nodded once.

 _“_ I say we follow the good Captain.”

Clint zoned out, turned slightly to the South East. How they all knew exactly where they were headed was a bit odd, but it came as naturally as breathing. Steve suspected having an internal compass was something that benefitted everyone so there was no point in complaining about it.

 _“_ South,” Clint said, “I think I feel something too.”

 _“_ More not-monsters?” Tony snorted, rolling up the map. “But, if both our magical dowsing rods say South, I guess we go South.” They steered the horses right on the path, and it suddenly started going downhill.

The road was a bit steep, the horses had to slow down significantly and they were all a bit wary as there were rocks and bent trees. The whole terrain was just sloping, slowly becoming steeper and rockier. The road curled some, turning sharply in itself yet still going downhill. The road was still clear, which was odd. If the nearer city was North, why was the path so clear South? Maybe the map was far older than they thought...

It was another two days before they noticed any changes. Tony was getting fidgety and had started complaining about all the walking and Thor was on edge which caused a few arguments. Steve and Nat stayed silent, both feeling different pulls of energy from the same source it seemed, but neither spoke of it. Clint was enjoying just being able to run around – he was a literal overgrown child it seemed. Bruce was completely fine with everything, which was unsurprising.

The road changed from dirt to cobblestone and the woods thinned.

A city was built into the side of the seeming mountain they were on. Large granite pillars held up tall buildings and people were moving around with carts, baskets, children or empty-handed. There were wooden buildings and stone buildings, a pier like structure holding some buildings over the ledge and large carved staircases and tunnels connected upper and lower levels of the city. Now that the trees were more cleared, the fact they were on a mountain was much more visible by the clouds that were on the upper level of the city.

 _“_ This,” Tony said, “is a city.”

No one greeted them, but some gave kind smiles while others quickly dashed away. There was a blend of reptile looking folk, feline humanoids, a dwarf here and there. All sorts of races intermingled, but it was obvious they all shied from Natasha. She drew her hood far over her head and wrapped the cloak around herself, blending into the few shadows available in the city as they headed more towards the heart of the mountain city.

 _“_ We need a place to stay,” Clint said, “maybe we should split up.”

Tony nodded, “Sounds good. Okay, so Clint and Steve can go looking for a marketplace or something. Nat and Thor, you kind of scope out and find out about any work – we need money if we get a room at an inn. Bruce and I can go look for a sort of inn or someplace to sleep. Clint, try to sell the horses for as much as you can.” The team all nodded and they separated. Thor had changed outfits in the first city. He still had the All-mighty Aesir look, but it was less pronounced as he disguised his hammer as a war hammer instead of its usual look. His helmet also lacked the distinguishable wing things. He'd undone all the braids in his hair aside from the two over his temple and Steve had almost commented on the design on Thor's armor after he had looked through all the symbols in his books. Loki's helm was the decorative figure of the Thunderer's vambraces and often he'd trace the design with his fingers absentmindedly. Steve always felt a pang of sadness when he did, but the feeling had no direct source.

Clint and Steve took the reins of the horses and climbed onto their backs. No one gave them weird looks or anything, just stepped aside to let the horses through. There were signs pointing different buildings and roads out. Taverns, smiths, inns, trader posts to send letters, those such things were on the middle lever. The buildings were a bit larger so they could hold more patrons and there were guards around small corners to watch taverns and such. A few trees that remained along the roads between buildings were used to pin notices to - wanted signs, help wanted pages, just public notice things.

The marketplace was on a lower level, so Clint and Steve had to go through a curling tunnel wide enough for three carts and pedestrians to go through. Steve led while Clint kept close to his rear, they took up little room in the tunnel so carts and people could pass. There were holes in the walls where lamps were nestled, the top of the cave had reflective plates that enhanced the little light in the mountain. Some people had their own lanterns but they were dimmed as too much light would blind horses or people, so most of the light was kept to a minimum while they traveled.

There were buildings inside the mountain as well, though most of those belonged to dwarves from what they could tell. They were workshops and homes, but it seemed they either sold in the market or in an outer area be it a market stall or a shop. It made sense, selling in the tunnel could back up traffic and that would be bad.

The lower level had more life than the middle they had started. There were stalls with people selling things, vendors calling out about their wares and offering to show them off. There were pins full of animals, feathers in the street and the stray chicken here or there being chased by some children. Cows, horses, goats, they were led by their sellers on leads to different pens or traded off to some. There was the smell of cooked food – hot meat with amazing spices or just warm brews that almost drew Steve away from their task.

 _“_ I say we follow the thread,” Clint said while he was also taking the area in. “There has to be a reason we were drawn this way.”

 _“_ I was thinking that too,” Steve said, leading the horse down another road. The number of animals thinned out and it was mostly stalls of people selling goods. Cloths, weapons, gems, herbs for magic use, odd trinkets here and there. A few offered to let Steve look at their holy items, swearing it would benefit his abilities to locate evil or enhance his flow with the celestial power. A few called to Clint, offering fabrics for clothes that would be light and good for sneaking and some offered to let him inspect their bows to ensure their quality.

It was a loud place, but it was amazing.

 _“_ Now,” a voice called from a corner at the end of some stalls and between the next few that were vacant at the time, “this fabric is the finest spider silk you'll ever find! I swear it! My friend and I, we promise the greatest ware we have! No less! Here, take a sample!”

 _“_ That voice,” Clint whispered, pushing the horse to walk a bit faster. They weren't allowed to run in the city on horses – that had been on a sign – but they could walk a bit brisker as long as the horses are well trained.

 _“_ See? Look, it can't be cut! Fabulous! Great for wearing under armor, almost as good as Mithril!”

 _“_ Is that-” Steve and Clint stopped their horses a few yards away, sharing a confused and shocked look as they led the horses forward.

On the corner was a giant spider. It was laid down, legs tucked under it but it was still a _giant fucking spider_. That wasn't the only surprising thing. A guy was standing on top of it, his clothes a slight reddish color as if they were originally tan or light brown but dyed red, and he was showing off a sort of fabric that was pure white – it would have been clear if there weren't so many strands together, Steve assumed. Polar bear science.

The guy seemed unaffected by the giant spider he stood on, but his buyers seemed a bit wary of it. “Oh,” he laughed, “do not worry about her. She is quite tame, better than a horse!”

Another man stepped from behind them, his clothes were _very_ red, like, blood red. Instead of just wearing a sort of tunic and some riding pants – those are form fitted almost like tights and have thicker fabric on the inside of the thighs so the wearer didn’t have to wear chaps – he had a sort of cloak on. It was more of just a hood, covering his head and going over shoulder plates. The fabric was mostly a hood and two wide strips of fabric that connected about mid rib cage and were connected to the back and front by the white fabric that the guy was showing off. His outfit had a less medieval fighter feel and was more ninja feel - if that was even the right descriptor. There was still the armor and such that kept it in the right time period, but Steve felt deep down that he possibly recognized the outfit. “I wouldn't recommend trying to tame a Death Widow, we only got her because we are masters of taming.”

A few people laughed but slowly approached. Steve and Clint slid off their horses, they were unworried by the giant spider, unlike their riders. Perhaps, Steve thought, the horses knew the spider was tame.

Another figure with the guy and the larger man, wearing green and black robes rather than the red their companion wore. The size resembled a kid, maybe a few inches taller than 5 feet. Their robes hid their face, going down further like a mage's robes but there was obvious armor underneath. The thread pulled tightly at Steve, heat coiling like a snake around his essence that made him want to move closer - like a moth to a flame.

All three people had flames embroidered onto their clothes. The large man with white wrapped around his forearms and hands, where only his fingers were sort of exposed, held a staff with a blade at the end had the more prominent flames on his clothes. They were stitched in with black thread and the body of the flames glinted gold while the spider guy just had the outline of a flame emblem on his chest and back. The shadowed figure had green flames all along the bottom of his robes.

 _“_ Is that a hand?” Clint asked Steve, noticing the giant spider was playing with a... hand. Totally a hand.

The hand was tied with a red rope, and it was moving despite being disembodied. The spider would let it run to the end of its lead before drawing it back and playing with it some more. When the hand became tired, it would pet the spider's face gently and then go back to playing.

 _“_ I think so,” Steve whispered back, “not creepy at all.”

The guy on the spider looked over, scanning his new possible buyers, about to start his sales pitch when he froze. “Steve? Clint?”

The man in red looked over, he was wearing a mask over the lower portion of his face and over his head – even under the hood – so only his eyes were visible. “Woah! If it isn't Legolas and the Guardian Angel!”

The shadowy figure went to move away, probably to hide behind the spider. “Sorry folks,” the red man called, “we got personal business to tend to! We will gladly be back soon!” He said the message again in a few other languages while the guy hopped off the spider.

 _“_ I can't believe this,” he said, approaching with a smile and his arms extended. Steve recognized the gesture, Sego and other priests the party had become familiar with would greet each other in a similar way. The priests and priestess would typically nod to one another, slightly bending their knees but to the party if they spoke when greeting they would open their arms. Clint had awkwardly hugged Sego when he did that one time...

Steve recognized him now. Peter Parker, a mess of brown hair and a bright smile. Clint recognized him as well, and they were both in shock. The man in red came over, and Steve instantly realized it was Deadpool – Wade Wilson – under the hood and mask.

Now that they were both close, it was almost weird. “What are you doing here?” Clint asked, confusion clear in his voice and his face.

 _“_ Game night, cursed game. Don't worry, we are having fun surprisingly,” Wade filled in, getting a quick glare from Peter.

 _“_ It's been almost three months and you lost three limbs so far. You're lucky you kept your mutation,” Peter sounded a bit sullen before perking up again, “But, what are you guys doing here?”

Steve shrugged, “Game night too. We never played Dungeons and Dragons before, but after filling in our character sheets, there was a bright light. Woke up in a valley up the mountain.”

Peter hummed, “What day was that? How many days have you been here?”

Clint looked thoughtful for a moment, “Game night is a Thursday, we have been here eight days now.” Wade glanced over to the shadowed figure, who had let the spider pull them close to coddle, but it kind of looked like the spider was trying to eat him.

 _“_ Leggy, let Lolo go,” Wade scolded, moving away from the conversation and approaching the spider. “Bad Leggy, you know not to do that in public, people get scared. Pete, tell Leggy not to cuddle in public.”

Peter waved a hand and the spider released the person who huffed and argued with Wade in a low voice Steve couldn't here. Clint could though, but the look on his face said he couldn't understand it.

 _“_ Okay,” Peter said, “We have been here nearly three months and we started playing Thursday around 4:30.”

 _“_ So it has been roughly... a second maybe since we got here. Maybe even less,” Clint said.

 _“_ Yeah, and we have higher experience. We play every Wednesday,” Peter filled in, “You guys are all new. Where is everyone else?”

 _“_ Looking for an inn and trying to find some work,” Steve said, “Who is your friend?” Peter had noticed Steve kept looking towards the robed figure, but the more Steve looked he felt like he recognized the figure. There was a familiar feel to them, but at the same time, Steve was wary.

 _“_ Oh, that is a long story. You can't say anything until you hear it all. Let's go find the rest of the team first, the inn is a rip-off. We have a place you can stay,” Peter moved over to the spider – Leggy – and climbed onto it. Wade and the robed figure were arguing still.

 _“_ They cannot stay with us,” the robed figure hissed, “I don't agree.”

 _“_ Overruled,” Peter declare as he crossed his arms over his chest, “Are you going to ride or sulk?” He waited and the person climbed onto the thorax of the spider, sitting cross-legged as Clint sometimes did on the horse.

Clint and Steve saddled their horses and they were headed back to the upper level. Peter didn't explain more, but he argued with the cloaked figure in a language Clint or Steve didn't know. Wade was adding a comment here or there, but otherwise, the trip was a bit quiet. Some people passed them and waved, greeting the trio and asking about their new friends. Peter gave some quick answer, “Some friends,” “Companions,” “Partners,” but that was really it for the passing conversations.

The group was back on the middle level, close to where they'd separated n a small square where a fountain was jutting from the side of the mountain, leaving a small pool of water that kids and animals approached before being run off by guards. 

Tony and Nat were discussing something when they all noticed the giant spider and its riders - and the man in red walking between Steve and Clint.

 _“_ Is that-”

Tony moved forward, “Peter?!”

 _“_ Hey, Tony!” Peter waved, slipping from the arachnid's back with ease despite it still walking. Steve threw Thor a questioning look, who was looking at the robed figure who was so obviously sulking.

 _“_ Come on,” Peter said before anyone could ask him anything, “We have a place to stay. Lo, open the path.” The figure grumbled but waved a hand. A trail in the woods just outside of the city opened. “You'll need to stable your horses, but Wade knows the stable keeper so she will gladly watch them. Wade?”

Wade moved and was taking the horses away, throwing a quick, “I'll be back shortly.” The team was buzzing with questions, but they remained silent until they got to a cave. It was deep and the back was closed off with large rocks and spider webbing. There was plenty of room for Bruce to stand, which had to be nice.

 _“_ Light?” Tony asked, only the setting sunlight being their light and that wasn't the best in the position of the mouth of the cave.

Candles lit up around the room almost instantly, flickering and brightening the place. Leggy moved and went up the wall, burrowing into a nest of webs. The hand was trying to follow, the lead dragging and it was unable to climb up the wall so the spider reached down and pulled it up, letting it burrow close.

There were a few pallets for beds, a fireplace and tons of supplies in the cave. “The trail will vanish in a few minutes,” the unnamed person said, standing close to Peter and keeping his voice low, “Wade will back by then?”

 _“_ Yeah, he is fast. But, everyone, sit. I think introductions are in order first.”

  


There was a warm fire and everyone was sitting around while Peter went about making food and they were obviously buzzing with questions.

 _“_ So, introductions,” Peter said. “Avengers, you know my friend.” The hood came down and the relaxed air vanished.

Loki looked so annoyed, green eyes glinting with annoyance in the candle and firelight. But, there was something off about him...

 _“_ Brother,” Thor said, shock lacing his voice, “you are young.”

Loki didn't look like an adult. He looked maybe like he was thirteen, slight baby fat on his cheeks, features not nearly as sharp and his hair was in limp curls around his shoulders rather than the typical greased back smoothness. His eyes had a softness around them they lacked the last time Steve saw him, though that wasn't a good time. He was obviously shorter as well, being barely Peter's height at around 5'4-ish instead of the towering 6'3 (or so) stature he had before. Nearly a whole foot shorter and the youthful look made him much less intimidating, but it was still odd. And a bit cute.

 _“_ Yes,” he said, “there was an accident with a spell and I am younger.” He had a venom in his voice, which was higher pitched than his deep voice, making Steve smile some. “Do you come to mock me now?”

 _“_ Of course not,” Thor said, eyes filled with a bit of worry and sorrow, “I have had no clue where you went off to.” The fact he thought Loki dead for the past few years was left unsaid. The trickster vanished after his failed attack on New York, taking the tesseract with him. It was unfound as well, not for lack of trying but it was simply untraceable now. They assumed it and Loki were off planet.

Loki looked surprised then, “Heimdall did not inform you I was on Earth?”

Thor shook his head and Loki scoffed. “I have not hidden and I called him to take me back to Asgard daily for a while. Well, before winding up here.”

Peter nodded, offering bread to everyone. They took it and waited for more of the story.

Peter filled in some blanks, “I found him, on the streets. It took a few days, but he finally followed me home and he's been living with me. He's really good at making candles, so he sells them on Etsy. It's been, what? Almost a year and a half?”

 _“_ Not including our time here, one year, four months and twelve days since I moved in with Peter,” Loki said, eating some of his food. It was some seasoned meat roasted over the fire, but it was juicy and Steve didn't think they'd have such good food in this place. “We have been in this realm three months, one week and three days. It was about a month before Peter found me and another month after that since we freed Wade. We have been traveling together as a trio for nearly a month now.”

 _“_ You didn't wake up together?” Tony asked, deciding to ignore the fact Peter is living with a dangerous threat that stole the tesseract and attempted to build a portal to destroy New York. “We all woke up together – aside from Thor. He was a few miles away.”

 _“_ Fighting a rabbit,” Clint added, making Nat and Bruce chuckle.

Loki shook his head, “I woke up close to a village. There was a priest who helped me get my bearings before I went about tracking Peter. I am not my character, as some of you and my companions are, but I see that is common in the Aesir.”

Peter agreed to that before adding, “I located Loki on accident, I woke up near water. Some village women found me and took me to a temple a few days away. Over that time I was able to get some control over my powers. Loki was in the temple when I got there and the priest let us stay. We traveled some before crossing into The Dark. Wade was in the Infernal realm, under some mind control by a dark sorcerer. It took some time to find the sorcerer and break the spell but when we got it, Wade remembered who we were and we decided to keep traveling. We found L'galviatus in The Dark and she became a companion after we helped her get away from some hunters. Her venom is really good and people pay well for it.”

They were silent a bit. Peter's part of the story was obviously missing many days since Loki had laid the time frame...

Bruce spoke first, “When did you begin the game?”

 _“_ Oh,” Loki said, “we play every Thursday at 4:30 pm. But, this time, when we set up, we were taken. This isn't our realm, we have checked.”

Tony nodded, “Figured.”

 _“_ No,” Loki said, “I mean this is not the map we made. Our game resembles the Nine Realms but we play with the game's deities, not the other pantheons. This world is different and uses different rules.”

Bruce spoke up, “We just filled in the sheets, our first time playing, and wound up here.”

There were footsteps outside and then Wade entered the cave. “Howdy. Skia said you owe her a visit.” Peter smiled and nodded. “What we talking ab- did you give them the hard bread?!”

 _“_ It is better with the wullet,” Peter argued, “I saved some. Whiny.” Wade grumbled but accepted the food Peter passed.

 _“_ What is wullet?” Nat asked.

Peter jumped some, blushing as he turned to the teifling, “Oh, Nat, sorry, I forgot you were there. Loki, can you do something about that? It is going to damped our business if we are seen with a teifling. And wullet is kind of like cow, but sort of like bison? I'm not sure, but it has six legs and some have three stomachs. Very fatty, great for roasting as they have tons of juices. Hard bread soaks the juices better and doesn’t get overly soggy.”

Loki sighed dramatically but moved from his spot to Nat. She watched him carefully, red eyes glowing faintly. Loki just tilted his head some. “Do you wish to be attacked, kidnapped and raped just for being a teifling? No. Now, give me your face.” Her hood was removed and Loki pulled out a weird stick from one of the pockets under his robes.

The end was glowing a faint gold while he seemed to draw on her face, one mark on her forehead, a few small ones lining her cheekbones and then a final on her chin. They were curling yet angular, sharp with a faint glow before settling into her skin - odd sigils that were cold against her skin. “There, I removed the suspicion your race tends to draw. Now, people will only be wary on a normal level.”

Steve could feel the difference almost instantly, the weird push that made him want to avoid Nat lessened and he felt as he usually did around her – wary but trustful. The entire team seemed to notice the change. “The spell will last so long so when it fades I will have to draw it again.”

Nat stared at him for a moment, “Thanks.”

 _“_ Loki,” Thor said with a pleased smile, “You have changed,” Steve noted the soft sadness in the Thunderer's eyes, how he so obviously wanted to embrace his long thought, dead brother.

Loki rolled his eyes, changing the subject, “Where are your Aasimar's wings? Have you failed to bless him?”

 _“_ Bless him?” Clint asked.

Loki sighed heavily. “What is the phrase? Noobs.” Peter and Wade laughed, but Loki just waved a hand. A book appeared and he flipped through it.

 _“_ Ah, here,” he passed it to Thor. “You have to bless him, give him your strength and allow him to draw power from you as he needs. In turn, he must swear complete loyalty to you and the pantheon. If he refuses and remains without wings, he is destined to fall from grace and Hel will rip his wings off. He will be trapped to wander this realm chained to The Dark and Infernal forever.”

 _“_ He can't come home?” Tony asked, looking shocked.

 _“_ I do not know that Man of Iron, but that is the lore of this world so we must follow.” Loki moved over to his spot again and sat down. Clint had zoned out again. “Your elf,” Loki tilted his head towards Clint, “he can move the threads?”

Thor shook his head, “He sees them, but I am unsure if he can move them.” Loki nodded and Thor went back to reading the book. After a few moments, he stood and changed his hammer to its original look.

 _“_ I,” he said in his most thundering voice, “Thor, Son of Odin, Son of Bor, ask you, Steve Rogers, if you hereby pledge your life to my service. My word will be your word, your life, and your only choice. You hereby swear to protect this realm from harm at any and all costs.”

 _“_ I swear,” Steve said, still sitting while Thor stood over him.

 _“_ Then,” Thor touched his chest plate with Mjolnir, “I grant you access to both my power and the power of the host to which you pledge to serve. Know that any misdeed I see as wrong will result in your fall from grace and the loss of your title.”

There was a sharp jolt, not really painful, but it caused Steve to flinch slightly. It was like electricity suddenly filled his chest and it flowed over all his body, making his skin warm and tingly, energy crackling through his veins and setting his hair on end. The faint glow that was always present intensified, turning more blue than golden before brightening to the point of almost blinding, then it was over. The electric feeling remained, almost making Steve restless but also made him calm.

 _“_ Woah,” Clint said.

Tony's jaw had dropped, “And I thought he was an angelic child before.”

Nat was silent, but her eyes read all the wonder without words. Bruce shared her amazed expression.

Wade clapped his hands together, “Congrats, you got your wings. Now, he can't travel with us.”

 _“_ What?” Everyone said – minus Loki and Peter.

Peter gave them a sheepish look, “We are con artists... Loki enchants some of our good so we can sell them and then after a few days, when we are out of town, the enchantment goes away.”

To hear that from Peter Parker, the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man was shocking, to say the least.

 _“_ What?” He asked, shrugging, “I'm always a hero back home, so when we play DnD, I want to be able to be a bad guy.”

 _“_ He's a CN,” Wade said, “I'm the NG. Loki's alignment isn't known.” That just seemed to make sense?

 _“_ Chaotic neutral,” Peter filled in, “I can be good or bad. It makes me easy to get along with, but also makes people nervous once they realize I don't have a side. I side whatever side I want, and that can be a problem if I don't like one side.”

 _“_ I'm the good guy,” Wade said, “I steer us in the right path, so usually our goods aren't complete crap. Sure, the webbing isn't actually fire resistant, but it is good material,” Wade shrugged. “Loki was lawfully good in our game, but here he is unaligned.”

Loki cracked a smile, “You picked characters similar to yourselves.”

The team sheepishly agreed.

 _“_ Understandable, our first characters were like that,” Peter shrugged, “but it was more fun this way. Loki can't always be the only one to stab someone.” They stared at Peter in shock but he just shrugged.

Wade whispered loudly behind his hand to Bruce, “Anger issues.”

 _“_ Okay,” Steve said, still in a bit of shock at the wings he now had. They were long, if he was standing they would probably be barely above the ground and the tops stretched a good four inches over his head. Instead of them being weirdly placed while he sat, they seemed to vanish halfway where they would have been pressed to the ground in a painful way – he assumed it was painful, bending a limb so awkwardly. “What then?”

 _“_ Well,” Wade said, “Thor's word is your law. If he says you have committed no crimes, then you haven't.” Loki hummed, realizing what Wade was saying. “If he judges us and says we aren't criminals, you won't be either.”

Loki scoffed, “Your loyalties are sworn to me.”

Peter shrugged, “This isn't our game, so technically, the rules are different. We're homebrewing it for now.”

Wade made a noise but didn't speak up. Peter looked at Thor, “So, what do you say? Are we criminals?”

 _“_ No,” Thor said thoughtfully, “you are not criminals.”

The weird thread that had pulled at Steve, the one that occasionally burned, felt cold suddenly. Not a painful cold, but it lacked the burning heat. It was like pouring water on a fire and the remains are still warm. After a second, he could see that the thread had been tied to the trio. It was their crimes that had drawn him, seeking justice or seeking to rip him from his grace and Thor stopped the pull.

Clint seemed to notice the difference in the threads as well, as he glanced to Steve in a knowing way. They hadn’t actually talked about the magic and such, it was just some mutual understanding between the two - though Steve was curious as to how the auras and magic around Tony and Nat would come to play.

 _“_ Who wants to hear how we found Foot?” Wade said.

* * *

* * *

 

I'm hella bad at describing clothes and I think it shows. SO, I did some digging and I found outfits  _ **similar**  _to how I imagine Peter, Loki, and Wade. (I'm still digging for the others so if anyone has some ideas for how they look, I'm open to suggestions. * _ **I don't own the images that inspired the designs and all credit goes to their artists or whatever**_ *

Peter's sort of design is inspired by [this](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/9c/1b/a0/9c1ba0f7444e36e701392947298d21ce--fantasy-character-design-character-design-inspiration.jpg) (Minus the exposed shoulders).

Wade's design is a mix of [this](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/13/65/32/136532685ecc4fc7f67b4b9f056f8dbd--epic-halloween-costumes-ninja-costumes.jpg) and[ Zenpool](https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/spiderman/images/1/17/Zenpool.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20141028063831). His outfit changes colors depending on what is happening - sometimes it is red and other times black or white.

Loki's outfits go between his Agent of Asgard outfits but in this chapter, his outfit is like [this](https://img.etsystatic.com/il/ad7457/1081612260/il_fullxfull.1081612260_9tcy.jpg). Obviously, the colors are different along with the different patterns on them - the flames the trio wears and such - so yeah. I just didn't know how to properly describe their outfits and I think I have spent more time digging for proper refs than writing the descriptions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second chapter in a single day yooo!!  
> So, Loki is a wee baby (he's like twelve-ish sort of?) but he has like major emotional hang-ups. Because of his regressed age, he has difficulties controlling his temper and other emotions. Oh! And his Jotun form comes in later, but keep in mind he is still uncomfortable with it so he keeps most of his personal feelings inside. He's tall for a twelve-year-old because of the Godliness (thought his height is only bigger by a few inches for a kid that age) and he is as smart as his adult self but he lacks in some skills because he doesn't have the control. Like every other "suddenly young again" tropes, he may be an adult mentally but everywhere else he isn't. Loki tries to act like an adult at times, but mostly that childness takes over.  
> Again, any questions about a character I will totally be taking comments or messages on Tumblr!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nat's POV and dealing with the Infernal magic. Also, Tony's class is finally mentioned and Loki explains some stuff about Peter, though there is a lot of backstory still to come.  
> I was listening to Control by Halsey when writing Nat's experience.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay. So far we have:   
> Cleric Aasimar Steve Rogers, The heavenly soldier.  
> Ranger Elf Clint Barton, the not rip off of Legolas.  
> Thor and Loki - Gods of the Norse religion but Loki is a child and Thor is... yet to be explained.  
> Barbarian human Wade Wilson, the Red Man and Fey friend who is also yet to be explained.  
> Druid human Peter Parker- who has so much I have to explain.  
> Leggy the Death Widow and Foot the Crawling Claw - two of my fav background characters ever because they don't talk.  
> This chapter gives you: Rouge Teifling Natasha Romanoff, Realm Walker of the Infernal.  
> And a bit of Tony.

Natasha felt better after the markings were drawn on her skin. The odd sensation to leave her companions faded to its usual level, just a slight feeling of wanting to be alone rather than the full-scale feeling from before. Wade talked for a while, telling a story of how they fought some zombies and how Leggy – the spider – found the crawling claw (apparently that was the hand's official title) and Peter did his magic work and it was tamed. Why they called it Foot was not told, but no one really questioned it because… well, it was Wade Wilson telling a story so there was little chance the tale was bound to make sense or have a purpose.

Tony and Bruce went to sleep first. Clint sat at the front of the cave, seemingly in another trance as he stared blankly out into the dark night. The moon was hidden by clouds that night, the smell of rain was close but Nat wasn't sure if that was just the cave's dampness or their proximity to all the clouds. 

Bruce was asking the seeming experts on this game about different monsters, learning the beast they'd met their first day on the road was a Behemoth and how they hated violence. Apparently, Wade was also known to draw fey close because of his joking manner, so they had to be wary of what kind got close. There was also how just because a race was known to be evil didn't mean everyone of that race was. Racism and prejudice were apparently big in all realms.

They talked about her, obviously – or at least the race. Apparently, tieflings just caused everyone to be wary because most were known to be bad because of the different cultures of the Infernal and the Above. Steve and Thor fell asleep sometime later in their place around the dying fireplace and Peter moved to lay on his bed to sleep shortly after. Soon, it was just Nat and Loki sitting in the dark cave. 

His eyes glowed green, but everything else was mostly shades of gray in the darkened cave. “Are you not going to sleep?” He asked her. His young voice was still throwing her off, he was so different to the first time they met… She tried not to focus on those memories, but her eyes still trailed over to Clint’s back.

“I don't sleep well,” she said, voice low and her own eyes glinting red in the darkness. Loki looked like a cat in the dark, she probably had a similar look as they both reflected what little light was around so as to see. Nat briefly wondered in Loki could see in colors in the darkness.

He hummed, “It is the night, when the realms are closer they draw to their children. Have you mastered what little magic you have yet? Or are you all avoiding your abilities?”

“I used some,” she said, head tilted to the side. “It knocked me out.” They both seemed to study one another; Loki in a wary way that showed he was slightly afraid of them all as now, he was far less powerful than the first meeting. Nat watched him because, well, he was curious to study. How could a so powerful being be wrought down to the timid shyness of a child? Part of her wondered if Loki had been like this when he was truly a child.

“Overexertion, you have to learn to walk before you fly. Close your eyes, hands out on your knees. Breath, deeply, draw the power. You're connected to the Infernal power, The Dark and The Fire. Your power, it is demonic, but demons are just fallen angels. You won't be able to use it from spiritual sources, but it will resemble that of a demon - the fire, the chaos. If you can master chaos, you can become a master of creation.”

Loki's voice was alluring, almost hypnotic, so Nat did as he said and closed her eyes and breathed. Part of her registered that it sounded like he was quoting something in the last line, but she didn’t ask. Not that he’d probably answer.

It took a moment, or two, maybe more, but she felt something. It was warm, some parts hotter than others. It flowed around her easily, suddenly realizing she was there and it tried to swallow her, drag and drown her. She gasped, almost feeling like she was drowning, but then a hand was over hers.  A cold point in a sea of heat.

“Breath,” the voice said softly, “you have to let it in. Let it know you welcome the power but you are in control.”

There was a drum-like beating, slowly getting faster and louder and the heat intensified, filling Nat's chest, her arms and legs, slowly her entire body felt hot. It was almost unbearable, but it settled once it and herself calmed. Like hot water, it seared skin but relaxed muscles - but in a less physical sense. The slight pain wasn’t physical, but it burned at something in her chest, melting layers before the tight ball of seeming metal melted and took the form of her physical body under her skin. 

Eyes still shut but she could see. The red and yellows, the flames and the currents. The threads were different than what she assumed Steve or Clint saw, these were more like a solid thing that flowed together as a fluid. A body of lava and it flowed around everything and from different points hotter. Peter had a warmer source than Tony, while Steve didn't have any of the heat, he was ice cold to her but not in a way that made her draw away from him - not anymore. The waves of heat and energy, it flowed around her, from the ground, the walls, everything living and nonliving. 

Finally, she noticed the solid ropes – chains. They were chains of metal and fire and they wrapped around her wrists. She would have screamed, perhaps, but another wrapped around her throat like a constrictor snake, tightening and coiling around her frame. It felt like she was being dragged, dragged back, down, burning and tearing. A voice said something, but the hot magma was drowning out all sounds other than the drums. A steady, pounding beat that almost reminded her of a heart but it was far too steady to be her own because she  _ knew  _ her heart had to be pounding fast.

“ _ Who is in control? _ ” she asked herself suddenly, pulling against the chains. They yanked back, but she was stronger. Nat leveled her breathing, not letting the drowning feeling stop her as she forced the energy to shift. The chains slacked, turning into a fluid fire that sank into her skin with ease as if she absorbed it like a sponge. 

The energy calmed and she opened her eyes for real for the first time it felt like.

Loki's eyes were bright with amusement from where he sat across from her, though no one else had moved. Clint had probably felt the shift of energy, Steve too, but she had calmed it before they felt it too much and became alarmed.

“What was that?”

“Control,” Loki said, “A candle brings light but it can also burn down a house. You now control that candle.”

“How?”

“It is who you are, what you are. You are the assassin that lives in the shadows. The damned that baths in blood and fire. Now,” his eyes only wavered in their brightness when he blinked occasionally, but the burning green glow held her red eyes, “now you can harness that. Steve, your friend, he draws light. You, Natasha, you draw the dark. You two will be at odds in this realm, but if you work together...”

“We could be unstoppable,” she whispered. 

Loki smiled, “Good night, Widow.” And his eyes vanished in the darkness, leaving her alone with this new warmth that made her feel powerful. The darkness didn’t drag at her, but she swore shadows were moving in her peripheral vision.

 

The next morning, Clint and Steve stared at her for some time. The web of magic in the universe warped around to avoid her in an odd way. The threads that dared touch her sometimes burned while some remained strong. She couldn't see the universal power as they could, but if she focused she could feel it. Perhaps, if she tried, she would be able to move them in some way, draw them together. The magic swirled in an unfelt breeze while her own magic whirled like water around her being. 

“Training,” Wade sang, changing his armor from his linen robes to an outfit similar to his day previous one but in white. “I call Bruce!”

“Um,” the giant looked to Steve for help, but Steve just shrugged. 

Loki glanced to Nat then to Steve before claiming to want to train with Thor, and the Thunderer was all too pleased with that. Clint and Tony chose to together. 

Leggy watched from her nest as they moved to the opening outside the cave and Peter was cooking over a fire. It was a big area, a stone quarry that had been abandoned when the humans realized they couldn't hallow out a mountain out as well as dwarves. The dwarves couldn't save the ruined tunnels so the cave was closed off and the quarry closed. Forest fey had grown up the woods around it to hide the cave so no mortal would be in danger, but they showed Loki the path when Wade mentioned needing a place to stay.

Steve looked a bit unsure of what to do, “Weapons or-”

“We should use magic,” she said, lowering to her usual stance so her center of gravity was lower and her tail curled some, flicking like an amused cat. “It could come in handy.” 

Steve nodded and got into his stance. His wings were visible, stretched out slightly like a bird prepared to take flight. The feathers were pointed and the muscles were obviously tightened as was the rest of his stance. Nat was intrigued by the magic of them as they were like a hologram with mass, not actually connected to the Captain’s body but he and the new appendages moved as if he’d never been without them. It was like her and the tail, it curled and twisted with her emotions or assisted in her movements.

He was taunt and braced while she was loose and swift – fire and ice. Energy crackled under her skin like a campfire. Her hair and eyes glowed slightly red and Steve's eyes lit up a heavenly blue while he gained a blue glow all over. 

Lightning seemed to curl over his hands while fire settled between her fingers. He had no trouble channeling his power, he'd been drawing from the universal energy since Sego taught him how but the electrical power he was new to as it came from Thor and he’d had no training with it.

Nat attacked first, diving for him while he slid to the side. The energy crackled through the air and Nat vanished from sight, melting into the shadows of the trees and mountain before she appeared again behind him.

Her hands weren't burning when she caught his arm and flipped him over to signal his defeat. Wade whistled, the other fighting had ceased as they were interested in how this would go. Steve laughed it off and they moved back to their place. 

The second time, Steve attacked first, catching her tail with a bit of static since he wasn't actually trying to electrocute her. Her tail curled and threw her weight over, body twisting fluidly and smashing her boots into his chest plate to send them both in opposing directions.

His wings went out, catching him before he went tumbling to the ground and he moved forward again as she did a back handspring to get herself righted again. Nat flipped easily out of the way, melting into the shadows again but Steve prepared for that. His body began to glow, eyes more of a white color than blue with his wings raised in the air though he remained a few feet above the ground.

The light brightened and she was forced from the shadows, letting out a cry. Her body was forced to reform faster than she realized and though it wasn't particularly painful, it wasn't comfortable. Her entire body came into the physical world by force and the threads of the universe dug in like razor wire to try and reject her sudden appearance. So, okay, it was kind of painful but nothing she couldn’t handle so she wasn’t going to bitch about it. 

Steve didn't hesitate, hesitation is a weakness she taught him forever ago, so he grabbed her and flipped her over quickly. 

“You good?” He asked when he helped her up.

Loki moved into the field, his own hands glowing a bright green suddenly. “Okay, enough of this foreplay.” Wade hooted and Thor looked a bit uncomfortable because Loki and Foreplay? Little brother shouldn't be so versed in sexual stuff, even if they are a couple hundred centuries old – but Loki looked like a little kid so it was  _ really  _ awkward. 

“Yeah,” she said, smiling some as Steve helped her up. “You?”

“Yeah, I'm –  _ Woah! _ ”

Loki shot three fireballs – though they weren't fire, it was just energy that was shaped like fire. They fizzled out before hitting the ground or going too far and catching anything on fire. 

“I'm not going to hold back,” Loki said, “so neither should you.” Four more Loki's appeared and they all braced to attack again. “You either work together or against one another. You either hold back and die or fight and live.”

Thor and Tony went to stop the fight, but Peter and Wade stopped them, “No, it's fine. Don't worry.” Peter turned and his casual armor and riding pants suddenly shifted, red magic flowing over his form to change his casual clothes to armor and fitted fabrics so his movements wouldn’t get tangled. The only similarity in his clothes and Loki’s was the hood, but Peter’s was lowered rather than drawn over his head like Loki’s. 

Peter was a druid, not a mage or cleric while Wade was a barbarian, but he seemed to have the abilities to tap into magic – at least a little. Perhaps it was their closeness to Loki, but Natasha didn't have time to focus on that as multiple energy balls were flying at her and Steve.

Loki had no problem not pulling his punches. Peter left Wade to make sure no one interrupted and he moved forward, red energy raising on his own hands. It wasn't a burning fire red like Nat, it was more of a scarlet color, the shade of lifeblood. 

They were now attacked by two forms of magic, Loki's fire and Peter's, though Nat wasn't going to wait to see how Peter's worked. 

Steve had drawn a sword, using it to deflect magic that got far too close to dodge while Nat focused on trying to halt further attacks. 

A whip of fire was drawn from the air, having a barbed end similar to her tail and it dripped like magma, though it took a  bit of concentration to force the magic to manifest in such a way. “Good,” Loki said, one of his duplicates changing magic to a blue shade that looked more like ice than fire. Nat felt the rush of cold, the refreshing feeling as the magic washed over it – like water was trying to put her magic out.

Instead of letting the flames die like they started to, she pushed through it and burned hotter. The whip went out and caught the duplicate, shattering the illusion as it wrapped around his form. The resistance disappeared and she had to pull back her magic lest it explode and burn her. Loki's eyes flashed with amusement as you could physically see her focusing. But, she needed to multitask. 

Steve dove at a duplicate, spearing it with the long broadsword. Electricity crackled and the duplicate melted away. Peter put his hands up and Steve was forced back, his wings suddenly forced back by a wind. He'd been focused on one opponent, which was a weakness and shouldn’t be done.

“Focus,” Peter yelled, twisting his right hand into a fist and Steve's wings vanished, making him fall two feet. “You will face a lot of challenges bigger than us.”

Steve was obviously thrown off by the sudden change of his gravity, but Nat used the focus on Steve to melt into the shadows. Another duplicate of Loki was gone and now it was just Peter and Loki. Peter shifted his attention, knowing Nat had slipped into the Shadow and drew her energy forward to manifest her form but not as fast as Steve had. She went to strike him with the whip, but he was suddenly changed. 

The watching group was shocked, Peter had shifted into a snake in a quick flash and disappeared into a crack in the ground. Loki laughed, though it wasn't crazy as in New York, it was amused and light. Steve took a deep breath and Nat felt the static in the air rise, felt the thickness choke her chest and put out the flame she'd been clinging to. There was a flash of electricity and Loki was thrown back, hitting a large boulder with a sharp crack – whether it was stone or bone was unknown. 

They were both shocked, letting their magic fall. 

Then Steve let out a yelp and he was on the ground, Peter had him tied up with scarlet colored magic and Nat couldn't move fast enough before she too was incapacitated. 

“I think,” Peter said, tightening the rope of scarlet around them both, “Loki and I win. You okay, Lo?”

Loki nodded, wincing as he stood from his place. There was a crack in the stone, and a small indention that was Loki shaped, “You did good,” he said, “your focus is all wrong, but it was better than I could have expected.”

“You almost murdered them!” Tony cried, shoving forward to grab Loki by the front of his shirt. 

Loki rolled his eyes, “My magic is less damaging than Peter's. I may have used full attacks, but my spells are mixed so no one would have been critically injured.” He glowed a faint gold and Tony dropped him. “Your friend, on the other hand, used a full force attack and broke several of my bones.”

Nat fist bumped Steve, tail twisting in amusement, “So, what now?”

Wade jumped up, he'd taken a seat on a boulder, not the one Loki hit. His hands had a faint white light over them, but it faded as he landed on the ground. “We can go to town, sell the last of our ware and then head for the Fall.” As the magic faded from Wade’s palms, Natasha noted the area around them had been surrounded by a bubble which had probably been keeping the attacks from going too far.

“The fall?” Thor asked, giving Steve a proud smile. Steve's wings were back, undamaged, and he was clean – no cuts or even bruises. 

“Yeah, it's a floating land surface to the East. I think there is a dragon,” Wade was bouncing excitedly. 

“Why would we go there then?” Clint asked, brows furrowing in confusion. He had been trying to get Nat to answer if she was tired or whatever, but she felt fine. She felt...  _ alive. _

“That is kind of the point of the game,” Peter said, “Get loot, fight monsters, be awesome. We were planning to fight an emerald dragon, but the sky dragon sounds more fun, plus the only other one we can locate is a Shadow Dragon.”

“A Shadow Dragon?” Steve asked.

“It's a dragon in the Shadow Realm and we can't get to the Shadow without a portal and the only obsidian portal is in the Infernal realm, and we can't go there,” Wade said, shrugging.

“Why?” Bruce asked, not that he wanted to go to a place called the Infernal realm or the Shadow. 

“I'm highly susceptible to mind control and the baddies there like that. I'm sure the Ember folk could help us pass, but they have a pretty solid place and I doubt poking a dragon will be in their favor,” Wade shrugged. “Nah, we can fight the sky dragon easily now we got two Gods, an Aasimar, and you guys!”

“Not to mention the King,” Peter said with a laugh, but Wade glared so he went back to fussing over Loki. He was pulling pebbles and wiping dirt from the little God's face.

“I feel like there is more to a sky dragon than you're telling us,” Clint said, but Wade waved him off. 

“It is a long journey, so we are going to need to get you guys some good horses,” the red man said instead of providing more information.

 

The city was the same, but people shied from Natasha less. A few children would run past her, no longer avoiding her path as they had. The large men with weapons on their sides no longer watched her with a fire in their eyes and women would actually smile. Sure, she still looks like a tiefling, but she didn't give off the vibes they had. 

Wade was chattering and had sent Peter, Clint, and Thor to fetch the horses while Tony and Bruce followed Wade to the market to sell their wares. Loki and Nat went to the top level.

The top level had fancier things, it was obviously socially better than the lower levels. There were bookstores with high-quality books, weapons with enchantments instead of having to go to different places. Loki moved around the top level with the ease of someone who belonged there. 

“First, you need new clothes,” he said, nodding at another sorcerer they passed. “Then, you need to learn of your kind. You cannot expect all magic to come naturally.”

She followed in silence, even her footsteps were silent. “You are a rogue, but you have the ability to slip in and out of the Shadow. That is the between realm, it keeps the Infernal and Above from clashing, though few can slip between without a porta Usually only monks who have years of practice. That magic is in you, and perhaps you could move further if you learned the abilities.”

“Why are you helping us?” She finally asked as he opened a door to a shop. A small bell chimed and there was an elf maiden approaching quickly. 

“We are allies in this realm,” Loki said then flashed the shopkeeper a kind smile. “I need robes.”

Rather than wearing the dark colors she preferred, Loki had her wear a gold-colored chest plate that melted to her form easily and gave her a dark hood. It was similar to something an assassin would wear in the Old World – the age of Templars and such – and had the maiden fix Nat with riding pants. They were a dark gray rather than black and matched the clothes of her cloak that had copper, bronze, and shades of gold weaved together like a metallic fire as it shifted the light as she moved.

“Would you like rings?” a male elf had come over, offering assistance. 

“I don't need-”

“Yes,” Loki cut her off, “grounding rings.” The elf nodded and disappeared behind a curtain. Nat had a few other elves fitting her with clothes, spare clothes to wear at different times and what went with which weapon. A cloth that wrapped around her arm was to cushion an arm brace with a  hidden blade; high necked shirts were to protect if she wore neck armor. Not one batted an eye at her tail or horns or the purplish gray tint of her oddly pale skin. 

“The rings,” the elf returned, carrying a box. Loki perked up, moving from the chair he had perched on. The elf carefully opened the box once the clothes were fitted and packaged, Loki had already paid them with a few large golden coins beforehand which was why they were working so well.

The rings were gold like her armor, but Nat could feel the magic radiating off of them. They were just rings of gold with markings etched into them, about two inches wide and maybe the size of her wrist. She was about to ask what they were for when the elf slid one down her down.

Instantly, the flowing magic stilled and was more present than wavering, she could feel it better, control it much better. “Realm Walkers,” Loki said, “they need to be grounded lest their first realm try to rip them back. You Shadow walk, making you a Realm Walker, so you have to be grounded. The magic you feel, it no longer drowns you, it works better for you now that you are a still point in space.”

“If I hadn't been grounded?”

The elf slid the second ring over her second horn, they both molded to the base, the markings glowing lightly before settling to look as if they’d just been pressed into the malleable metal.

“You could have been ripped from the Above to the Infernal by force. Steve ripped you from the Shadow and it caused pain. Your spirit and physical forms, they blend now,” Loki watched in fascination as a smaller set of rings were put around the end of her horns giving the pointed tips a golden cap. “Now, your magic cannot be ripped from you and you cannot let it drag you down. Steve should have been given something enchanted by the cleric that he met, but he did not have his wings then. Peter cannot rip your power from you as he did Steve.”

“How was he able to do that, anyway?” A ring was fitted to her tail, which made her almost reach to hit the elf as it was pressed right at the base where her spine continued rather than stopping. He apologized faintly and stepped away after a final ring was slipped into place right at the base of where the barb began. Loki inspected them and handed over a few silver coins. The elf thanked him again and they went about leaving the two to their own. 

“He is a druid, but he also has a darker magic,” Loki led Nat from the store. She carried the bundle of clothes and the new weapons, following the mage silently. “He did not tell fully where he was when he woke. The water he woke by, there were malevolent sprites in there. They taught him the art of removing, which he can use to protect himself if need be. If he wished, he himself could rip Steve's wings off and bind him to this land as Steve has no binding material. Peter is not evil, though, so he wouldn't do any lasting damage.”

“Do you know that magic?”

“Oh, yes, I have all my magic from our world as well as the magic I have built here. I am truly a God in this realm, stronger than Aesir or Vanir. If Thor tried, he too could tap his magic but he has never been much for magic using.” They entered a bookstore that smelt like leather and aged paper, and a human was actually there. “Tieflings,” Loki told the man who just nodded and scampered away.

“Do you know what dragged us here?” Nat watched the man searching. She felt lighter out of the dark clothes and more stable, her body and spirit did feel as one for the first time though it was the first time she even noticed she didn't feel right. It was a constant thing that she was used to, but it is like living on a slanted plane and then suddenly being level – the difference is only there once you are in a new place. 

“No, but I believe if we beat the game we will leave,” he shrugged and a book was placed down. 

“64 gold.”

“This book is worth no more than 20 silver,” Loki said, sounding appalled. “I mean, look at it! It is small and worn.”

“Tieflings, not so well known, their books are rare.” The man was no scholar, he lacked the tattoos and the knowing look, but he was a businessman. 

“I will give you 30 gold,” Loki said, drawing the coins out. Nat said nothing at how they looked silver rather than gold but the man still did not look like he wished to take so little. “I could go elsewhere.”

“Fine, 30,” he snatched the three silver pieces away and stashed them. Loki grabbed the book and they left – quickly. 

“Enchantment,” he said once they were away, “humans unversed in magic cannot see through it so he won't see the mistake until we are long gone. Come, we have much to do.”

Next, Loki scammed some horse sellers, giving them 800 silver pieces, rather than 800 gold pieces , for two hobbies. The small elf boy working the stable smiled at Loki when he noticed the exchange and quietly promised not to say anything. Loki gave him a few gold pieces either way and told him to get out of there. Nat was going to ask when she noticed the whip marks on the boy. He pocketed the gold and bowed, giving them the horses and allowing them to leave.

Nat's horse was a white hobby, study yet lithe. She was tall, long-legged and slightly thin, but she was sturdy and didn't seem startled by Nat's appearance as a few horses had. In fact, she just pushed her nose into Nat's hand and waited until she was saddled. The other horse was brown and speckled with white spots, just as lithe but had a more nervous energy. He kept prancing in place as Loki tried to saddle him. Once the saddle was on, he calmed and they could leave with little problems. 

It was noonish when they returned to the middle level, heading for the marketplace where the group should be. Peter was standing on Leggy, selling the spider silk fabric for a ridiculous price, but people seemed happy with it as they noted Clint and Thor looked like upstanding citizens unlike his other companions - Wade and Loki - had.

“Where are the others?” Nat asked, tying Lite to a post near the large Death Widow. 

“They were buying clothes last we saw,” Clint said, eyeing the horse. “New horses?”

Loki hummed, “This one is yours, he is excitable. I ride Leggy with Peter or I travel on my own.” He and Thor began a game of checkers on a small table beside the spider while Peter was still selling their goods. He had a lot of charisma and was well liked it seemed. Maybe his “character” was more like Spider-Man than he realized.

The other tree approached, seemingly surprised by Nat's more brighter clothes and Steve asked about the rings. 

“Grounding rings,” she said, “Apparently I was at risk of being ripped from this realm. You have to get something grounding as well, or Peter won't be the only one able to rip your wings away.” Steve looked a bit shocked at that and went to ask Loki for more information. 

Wade had traded their tired farm horses for some gold but brought back two coursers, both a dark color but one's muzzle was a silver color. “These are our horses,” he said, “Loki got them from a farmer's daughter he saved from a witch.” Loki scowled at him but Wade patted the majestic horse's faces. “One is Bea, the other is Arthur.”

Bea had silver legs and nose, while Arthur had cinnamon colored flanks. Both their bodies were a basic almost black – purple color. They weren't wary of Nat and were larger in frame than Lite or Oak – Clint's horse. Coursers are close to the size of war steeds, while hobbies are for lighter riders.

Tony and Bruce had new clothes and weapons, though they were admiring Nat's new items. “Lame,” Tony whined, “you got Loki to baby you.”

She smirked some, “Come on, billionaire, don't be so whiny.” He made a face at her but Bruce cut him off. 

“Won't the armor make your fighting style useless?” It seemed like it would constrict her acrobatic like movements, but the material felt light and as if it melted to her skin as a thin cotton shirt would.

Loki glanced over, “It's dragon hide.” 

Thor perked up, moving his piece, “Really?”

“Yes, though it was expensive so she only has one set.”

“What kind of dragon?” Their conversation carried on with the rest of the team. Wade hopped over, inspecting the armor. It was scaly, molding to her form as easily as if she'd been dipped it in, her torso and thighs were covered in the thin scaly material but dark gray cloth covered most of it so only the chest piece showed. A much more conservative look than her previous tight leathers and minimum armor look. 

“Ooh,” Wade said, eyes sparking between his mask, “a Silver Back! Can we shoot more magic at her later?” 

Tony waved a hand, “Someone, explain please.”

Peter was counting his money, eyes on the coins he was stacking instead of the armor, “A Silver Back is a sort of dragon. Their hide is only pierced by a blade dipped in dragon blood. They reflect or absorb magic, depending on the age and the make of the armor. Is it elvish?” Wade hummed. “It probably reflects magic, some kinds at least, that is why it is gold and not silver - the enchantments they place. You get her grounding rings?”

Loki nodded, focused on the game he and Thor were still playing. The thunderer seemed pleased with having taken two of Loki’s pieces so far. Peter hummed in approval but not much else was said. “We need to find Steve some,” Wade pointed out, “Otherwise he is going to be far too exposed if we get separated.”

Peter sighed and tossed a small velvet bag of currency to Wade, “Take him up, get him fitted. You know which shop, right?”

“The Elvish one,” Wade said, gesturing for Steve to follow. “Or should I go to the Mage shop?”

Loki pipped up, taking one of Thor's pieces, “Go to the Temple, they have the right silver and can bless his sword. Take Thor, he might want to see the upper level.” Wade nodded and those three left. Peter finished counting coins and Nat was letting Tony inspect the rings on her horns while Bruce and Clint left to get food since they had only eaten early that morning after their fights.

 

“So,” Tony said, “what's in the book?”

“Magic stuff,” Nat said, pulling it into her lap. They had relocated to the cave sometime after Bruce and Clint returned. Loki and Thor were getting along playing some game that involved pebbles and a makeshift board, both seemed pretty relaxed but didn’t make small talk. Wade was practice fighting with Bruce while Peter was meditating with Clint. The horses were at the stable and they were planning to leave within the next two days. 

“Loki suggested it,” she continued, “grounding, spell work, history.” She glanced up, her red eyes catching Tony's brown. “What is your class, anyway?”

“Sorcerer,” he shrugged, “I didn't put much thought into actually using magic though.”

“Maybe it would be useful,” she said, flipping the page. “Loki could show you or maybe even Peter.”

They both glanced to where Clint and Peter were sitting, backs to the ground and seeming to be looking out over the quarry. Peter had a red glow around him while Clint had a yellowish green glow. Natasha slightly wondered what they were doing in that state.

Nat was trying to be careful, avoiding touching the magic unless she had to because since getting the ring, she felt... watched. She didn't speak it, but the team was slowly filling with a paranoid feeling and it wasn’t from her. 

“I don't know,” Tony said, “I don't... How did he put it? Feel the universal threads?” The human waved his hand some, “I’m not magical, I’m a mechanic.”

“You have to draw it to you,” she said, moving the book from her lap and wrapping her tail around her. The metal band clicked lightly as they touched the stone, but everything else about Nat was quiet, still, a shadow. “Close your eyes, breath and reach out with your mind.”

Tony looked skeptical but did, mimicking her pose and closing his eyes. She kept her own eyes closed, but she could see them all, or their shadows. Thor and Loki were watching them, Steve was back to reading his own book on Aasimar and Wade and Bruce were sparring outside. Peter, Clint, and Steve had a glow to them, their energy open and bright but it didn't attack her. 

The universal energy reached out, not to her but to Tony and she could see the waves trying to touch him, how they wrapped around him but when they pulled he was unaware. She felt Loki's presence shift, along with Thor's. Both were watching with interest and Nat could see what Loki had meant – Thor wasn't a big magic user. There was a built up energy that connected him to Steve and Mjolnir, but other than that, his magic stayed quiet and still. Loki's moved, swirling and burning but cold as well. 

Tony let out a sharp breath and Nat turned her attention back to him. 

Around him was an odd aura, coming off in sharp straight lines rather than the flowing ease of Clint or Natasha, not the fire patterns of Loki and Peter and not the radiant glow of Steve or Wade and it certainly didn’t come off like static as Thor’s did. The longer Nat stared at the blue and yellow lines, she felt like it resembled tech. When energy runs through circuit boards, making like a rat in a maze looking for a way out.

The randomly changing patterns pressed into Tony’s skin, making his closed eyes glow a bit under his lips and his hair began to stand on end. His magic was far different than anything Natasha was used to - and whatever was watching them noticed too. 

Darkness shadowed against her as if something cold and dark had moved to sit beside her astral form - her Shadow form. A few more moved forward and if they reached out, the odd light around Tony would spark like two wires connecting and they drew back. She wasn’t exactly sure of what these things were or why they seemed interested, but she wasn’t in her body so she couldn’t ask Loki or even Peter.

Then, the light faded, Tony’s eyes opened and Nat was back in her form with her own eyes open again. The front of Tony’s chest plate had a circular symbol etched into it, the lines burning blue and looking far too geometric for any of the designs they’d seen so far in this realm. The Arc reactor, Nat noted.

Whatever was there still reached for Tony and for the first time in a very long time, Natasha was afraid of the shadows.

* * *

* * *

Nat's new outfit is slightly inspired by the design of this [one](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/9d/39/d2/9d39d2bc47523c565a6807b616cdbd37--character-portraits-character-ideas.jpg)! Obviously different colors and such, but it was my sort of inspiration.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so the first note mentioned Nat being a Realm Walker - that is explained better later. I had planned to incorporate another scene in this rather than Tony's scene with his magic. You better be happy because I had honestly written like 5 more chapters before I realized I never touched on Tony's class and I have to throw it in. He's gonna get a more in-depth look later. His magic is hard for me to explain; he is sort of like a tech mage but he isn't. It looks like tech, the whole circuits and such look but he actually doesn't control tech because well there is no tech.   
> I have to do some rewriting because of how I changed the end of this chapter plus I had to change my dragons a bit because I was just gonna do some OC dragons, but nah nah. Let's do some sort of legit D&D monsters!  
> OH! And Tony's armor is inspired in part by another fic called "Bend Around the Wind" *it's a FrostIron fic* and I loved it so much, I have reread it like 3 times now? Sue me, but seriously, Tony's armor is inspired by some of the fantastic fan art from that fic.  
> If Scyllaya reads this, no lie, I will die. Big fan. Fangirling a little while typing that omg


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony is basically having a mental break down, Loki is salty and it's a dog eat dog world.  
> Also trigger warning: mentions of miscarriage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I wasn't planning to write another Tony centric chapter since he was the first one I did, but I had forgotten his class and its kind of important.   
> As mentioned in.. the note in the last chapter? I can't remember where or if I did mention it, Tony's magic resembled tech - which isn't supposed to be possible. The magic in D&D usually revolves things like earth, fire, air, water, and spirit? I can't remember exactly but tech isn't really one of those. So, *coughthatisahintcough* little things are starting to throw the sense of the realm out of order, which is on purpose! The world isn't supposed to be modern fantasy, which is what makes Tony's magic so odd and powerful.

Tony jumped some, realizing he felt… odd. It was like, how to explain it?

When he was younger, one time he had stuck a screwdriver into a circuit board out of frustration and he had forgotten to unhook the board from the power supply. It hadn’t really been a shock, but it had sent tingles all through his arm. Last time he used screwdrivers that didn’t have insulators for handles.

But, he was getting sidetrack thinking about screwdrivers and such. 

The center of his chest was glowing, where his arc reactor would be but he had noted long ago that little device was missing. His armor was a sort of alloy, he hadn’t been able to name it and the dwarf he visited about it just told him it was special and he was very lucky to have the armor. It was silverish but in some lights, it had an almost white look, which was weird because … metal wasn’t white? 

His brain was racing, going through so many thoughts rather than sticking to what it should be focusing on which was the fact his  _ chest was glowing _ . Oh God, he thought briefly, this is the end. Anthony Edward Stark, died because of weird magical stuff while trapped in Jumanji: the Dragon Edition. Great, wonderful, who was going to tell Pepper? What about Jarvis? Oh God, who would tell Rhodey?! 

A sharp stinging sensation drew him out of it and he realized Peter had slapped him across the face, an amused smirk on the punk’s face. 

“You were having a breakdown,” Peter said, “You good? Do you need another slap?”

Tony’s cheek stung and he glared up at the weird kid, “No, I don’t.”

“I’m just offering because you kind of started shooting off excess magic.”

“I  _ what _ ?”

There were scorch marks in random places and Wade was holding his hands up a few feet away, encasing Peter and Tony in a white bubble of dim light so the shots of magic wouldn't damage anything else. The magic warbled and fell, letting in the candlelight and the rest of the party. 

Tony still felt wired, amped, the way he felt the first time he flew in the suit. It was liberating, scary and oh so wonderful. His heart was beating so fast and he briefly realized he was smiling. Then, he started to laugh. It was loud and almost painful, drawing his stomach tight and he felt that same course of …  _ magic _ go through him as he laughed. 

Loki approached then, green eyes alight with humor, “He’s gone mad.”

Peter shook his head some, “Look at his magic.” Peter’s eyes had a scarlet glow around the brown irises - how had Tony never realized before how Peter’s eyes look like tree bark? All dark brown with darker lines cutting through them towards the pupil, were his eyes always like that or was it the game? Man, Tony needed to look at all his friends’ eyes more often. 

Tony had no fucking clue what they were talking about, but he was too high on the amusement of this. He was going crazy. This game was going to kill him and he was going to look Death in the face and laugh. He was going to laugh himself to d-

Another sharp slap went across his face, on the right side this time. “Breath, Stark.” This time it was Loki that had hit him and it actually hurt less than Peter slapping him, “If you go mad now you will invite in bad energy and we will have to kill you.”

“I’m going crazy,” Tony finally said aloud, still laughing some under his breath, “I feel like … weird and it is wonderful and terrifying and I can’t explain it!” Peter looked amused but most of the group looked worried. Of course, they would be, Tony had gone nuts. “Magic isn’t real but this feels real.”

Loki rolled his eyes then and turned to Peter, talking but Tony wasn’t listening. He moved from his sitting position and was on his feet in a few shaky seconds. “I feel like I just did a lot of drugs, like, all the drugs.”

Clint laughed then, “You look it, pal.”

His eyes were wide, hair on end and he was still glowing at the chest. His hands shook some, nervous excited energy that buzzed through his veins. He hadn’t even realized he was breathing hard until a hand was clamped over his mouth. “You’re going to pass out,” Peter said, “steady. Breath. If you continue pulling energy in it will overload and you will die. Think of it like the suit, but your mind is the computer.” 

That, Tony thought, he could do. Leveling his breathing took a moment, and his head was starting to hurt from the overload of oxygen he’d been taking in at an alarming rate. His eyes closed and he felt it, the energy that rolled through his body like electricity through wires. He had to put this whole… magic thing in terms he knew. He could do that. Of course, how hard could it be? Clint was using a little magic all the time, so it couldn’t be  _ that _ hard.

Imagining the magic as energy made it easier. He imagined this current that he could control with a switch, that it would go where he willed it with just a few commands like when he told Jarvis to put all the power into thrusters or adjust little things. Imagining it that way made it so much easier to handle. 

“Good,” Wade said, which led Tony to realize he’d been moved to sit on a roll of spider silk fabric. Wow, he needed to get more aware of his surroundings.

Bruce was the most worried looking, “Is he going to be okay?”

Wade shrugged, “You’re the doc, but I think he will be fine. I mean unless we don’t show him how to burn off magic energy in a safe way.”

Peter hummed but Tony couldn’t see him from his seat, “We should draw his blood before that.”

“No,” Wade said with an annoyed tone, “we can’t carry that around.”

Peter scoffed, “I don’t see why. It is great for spells.”

“What are we talking about?” Clint asked, brows furrowed as he crossed his arms over his chest. “Why would that be something?”

Loki was seated cross-legged a few feet away from Tony, green eyes watching him in a calculating way. “Virgin magic blood. The energy is fresh and the magic is very strong, undiluted. I agree with Wade, it is too dangerous.”

“We could sell it,” Peter argued and Tony realized he was going to keep arguing it. “We could use it for a portal, or other spells.”

“Or,” Loki said, “it could be given to sprites and they’ll try to control the sorcerer.” Peter shut up then and Tony really wanted to ask but Natasha beat him to it, but she was changing the subject.

“So, what do we do now? Does he just use magic or does he need spells?” 

“Bit of both, he has to focus his energy and make it come to life,” Loki said, finally sounding like he wasn’t a child arguing. Tony glanced over to see Peter and Wade arguing in a bubble, but the words were silenced so it must be private, Peter was burning in scarlet flames but Wade seemed to not really care about it. “Anthony,” Loki said, “Can you focus on your magic?” How did Loki know his name? Oh, God, could he read minds? Did he hear Tony lamenting his death earlier?  _ Focus _ .

“Huh? Oh,” Tony took a deep breath and imagined that switch, imagined it flipping on and the energy began to course through his entire being. “Like that?”

“Okay,” Loki said, “I’m going to walk you through a simple spell.”

Tony wasn’t sure how he felt about this. Loki had moved and they were sitting knee to knee on the ground, surrounded in a small ring of green flames that had no heat but they had energy. “Focus,” Loki said, his soft face was serious but it was hard to look too serious with baby cheeks. 

“Imagine yourself,” Loki said, head tilted slightly to the right as he watched Tony carefully, that same calculating gaze he had earlier- was he this scary as a child? Wow, no wonder Thor and him had a rough relationship. “Imagine being outside the circle. Imagine your body moving without actually moving. Focus, move your energy from one point to another.”

Tony took a heavy breath and closed his eyes, focusing on the spot five feet away. He couldn’t really see with his eyes closed, but he felt everyone else in the room. If he focused harder, he could feel the spaces that were open and free of any objects. He forced his body to stay still, willing his … soul? Maybe that was what it was, but he willed it to move. After a moment, he felt the shift in the air, the place he sat on was no longer warmed by his body heat but was cool. 

When his eyes opened, he was outside of the circle about five feet away.

“That was so fucking cool,” Clint said, “You just… popped up there.”

Bruce looked impressed, arms over his chest as he watched the scene with that calculating gaze of a scientist. Nat’s tail flickered but she didn’t show her amusement on her face. Steve and Thor both looked impressed as well.

“You have done great,” Thor’s voice was loud in the cave.

“All he did was move,” Loki said with an unmissable eye roll, “Can you move back?”

It took a few seconds to focus his energy into moving, but after a moment, he was back in the circle of fire. Loki had moved away, but the team congratulated Tony either way. He felt really proud because, well, he’d never done this before. It was like when he flew, he was so proud. He knew he was probably being cocky, but that was just him. Of course, him being a mega-genius would make him great with magic. 

It took little less than an hour for Tony to master being able to just blink into a different place. He could do it with little more than a thought of where he wanted to be, a little bit of energy and he was there. He was so amazed, magic had seemed like it was going to be hard but this was super easy. Seriously, why were they so scared of Loki if magic was this easy? Anyone could do this!

“You can learn combat tomorrow,” Peter said, sitting by the fireplace with Loki in front of him. The older was braiding Loki’s hair, running a comb through the long locks in a manner that reminded Tony of a mom in one of those cheesy movies where she told the daughter about how she was too good for boys or something from some lame Hallmark movie Tony  _ totally  _ didn’t watch on his bad days. Loki’s eyes were closed and Thor was watching them with a strange look on his face. “If you overdo it, you’ll burn up,” Peter’s eyes met Tony’s for a second before he focused back on braiding Loki’s hair.

“We all need sleep,” Thor finally said, slapping his knees as he pushed from his seat, “if we plan to travel in a few days.”

The team had to agree. There was no telling how long their walk was going to be so might as well sleep well while they could. Though, Tony couldn’t help feeling like they were being watched and being in a cave really didn’t help. He really hoped they got out of the cave sooner rather than later.

 

The next morning, Loki was practically clinging to Peter. Peter was making some breakfast and Loki was assisting, each time he handed Peter something or helped with something that really didn’t need praise, Peter gave him a quiet compliment about how much help he was. 

Something in Tony’s chest stung as he watched them and if Thor’s expression was anything to base on, he felt a similar way.

“So,” Tony said, eating a bit of the eggs and toast Peter had Loki give out to the team, “Pete, how’s MJ doing?”

Wade and Loki looked at each other and Peter just took a really long sip from his cup. “She’s fine.”

“Did you two decide not to-”

“She moved,” Peter said, setting his cup down a bit roughly on the stone floor. Tony was a bit disturbed by it, the finality of Peter’s words. They’d been so in love and after what they went through, perhaps they could have worked it out. “She lives out West, Hollywood I think.”

Clint looked to Nat, and they shared a knowing look. 

“I’m sorry,” Tony offered after a few tense seconds, “I thought after the loss, you two could-”

“We couldn’t. Please drop it,” Peter handed Loki another piece of bread and the Godling took it, thanking him in a small voice, which was also disturbing. “Loki, will you pack Leggy up while I get this cleaned up?” The Godling didn’t question and went about grabbing some things - fabric, a few weapons, and food - while Peter started cleaning up the area where he cooked. 

Thor and Tony shared a slightly confused look because Loki was just following commands? Peter was so edgy about that topic? 

“We’re going to head out,” Wade suddenly said, shooing everyone out of the cave, “We’ll meet you two in the city.” Then, they were all forced out of the cave and suddenly in their day clothes. The trail opened and no matter what they said, Wade wouldn't speak until they were on the main road.

“We don’t talk about MJ,” Wade finally said with a twirl of his staff. “He explained the story once to Loki and me, but it is an unspoken taboo. He webbed my mouth shut when I tried to ask about it.”

“What happened?” Tony pushed. “He used to talk about her a lot but after the-”

“That is what happened. After she miscarried,” Wade sighed some, “after she lost their child, she was kidnapped. I don’t know if you guy knew that part. But, he searched for her for over a year. Then, he finally gave up and admitted she was probably dead.” Wade pushed his hood down but he still had a mask on, looking ahead as if remembering the scene himself. 

“She showed up one day and they tried to make it work but she was missing over a year. There was too much pain and it didn’t work. Peter,” Wade shook his head some, “he was torn up. Spidey and I weren’t super close then, but I remember he beat one guy up to the point of almost killing him. I had to pull him off the guy and hold Peter down until he calmed. He wanted to be a dad so bad, and then, a year later, he finds Loki living under a fire escape.”

“What?” Thor grabbed Wade’s shoulder, forcing him to stop walking. “What do you mean?”

“Kid had no memories,” Wade said, “I was out of town when Spidey found the kid, but they told me the story. I don’t really know, but Loki’s mind got all messed up and it took a few weeks for his memory to come back. It only came back because they’d been watching the news when the news was going on about the Avengers - that usual chatter about ‘where are they now’.”

Tony still didn’t get why Peter would keep the kid.

“Peter didn’t even care,” Wade continued, turning to keep walking, “Told Loki if he wanted to stay he could, but they both knew he couldn’t leave. Peter would die without the kid, ya’ know? Loki would probably die without him too.” Wade didn’t continue as they approached a trader’s post, tucking his staff into a holder across his back. “I need to do some stuff so feel free to go look around some more.”

 

Tony had realized the day before the city wasn’t actually a city. It was more of a really big port. On the middle level, there was a giant structure that came off the side of the mountain in an eerie way but it was sturdy. That was how the place got its name as the Sky Harbor. 

Dragons, griffins, giant birds or whatever flying creature that was tamed would come to the port. They’d take people to the sky cities or they’d make deliveries. There were three sky cities this port went to, but Tony couldn’t remember those names. Sky cities were a weird concept - but most of their lives were weird now.

Tony decided that they should investigate the ‘airport’ since they had only ever walked by it without realizing what it was. Tony had thought it was a wall that kept the city up so it wouldn’t go sliding off the side of the mountain, but it was some little tavern waitress with violet eyes and dark skin that told them what the city was. “Ah can tell yas new to da sky port,” she’d said, serving them warmed mead, “da sky port goes across and tradas come in an out.” 

So, Tony, Clint, and Thor were checking out the port while the others went to investigate the other bits of the port city. “It’s so cool,” Clint said, looking around the granite building that was really similar to most real airports with the giant windows and the security and the people milling about. “How do you think they land?”

Thor was eating some weird meat on a stick - Tony figured it was from a reptile creature but he wasn’t too interested. “How do your jets land? It could be similar.” 

“They just kind of,” Clint waved his hands some, trying to imitate the quinjets landing, “plop down.”

“I really don’t want to see one of those just plopping,” Tony pointed out the giant window to show a giant creature with the head of an eagle, front legs too, and the body of a lion. It had a single rider and what looked like rolls of cargo on its flank. “What if it lands on a giant bird perch? You know, how ravens kind of do?”

Thor perked up, “We should get a raven!”

“Why?” Clint asked, giving the God his most ‘what the fuck’ face. “Are we not fantasy players enough already?”

“Ravens are smart,” Thor tossed the stick his food had been on in a trash bin they passed, “it could give up directions or send letters.”

“We don’t have anyone to send letters to,” Tony pointed out. “And Steve has wings, he could just be an oversized raven.” Thor hummed, seeming to take that into consideration while they turned down another corridor. 

It had traders unloading supplies and their transport was just milling about or sleeping or doing whatever. “We should get one of those,” Clint whispered, nudging Tony’s side to point out a small dragon. It was larger than a horse, about the size of two horses and the light blue, but the longer it sat in the building, it slowly shifted in shade to match the gray stone. Only its eyes stayed bright blue and it watched the trio as they passed. 

“Sorry, we’re here to fight a dragon, not ride them,” Tony said, unnerved by the watchful eyes that reminded him of Loki in a way. How they seemed to slice Tony apart to stare right into his heart as if he wasn’t even a person. “And get out of this place. Speaking of, we should do more research on how to do that.” So, they cut their tour of the ‘airport’ short and Thor bought about five more things of meat on a stick. “We need to talk to Peter and Loki more, they seem to maybe have an idea.”

Thor hummed, “But will they share? It seems to me they enjoy this land.”

Clint nodded, “We might be alone in getting us all out. We have no clue if those three are even on our side.”

“They’ve been helping us,” Tony pointed out, but… Peter had mentioned before he didn’t have a side. They’d been here three months and didn’t seem in a hurry to leave. Maybe, Tony thought, maybe Legolas and the Thunderer had a point. He nodded once, “We have to get out without letting them know. At least, we can’t tell Peter our plans. In fact, we can’t trust anyone.”

“We can trust each other,” Thor said, but he had that look that said he agreed with Tony. “Something is off about the Man of Spiders and I have yet to figure it out.”

“Loki, too,” Clint said as they rounded a corner to locate Bruce, Nat, and Wade. “Those two, they’re weird and it is more than their weird codependency issues.”

Thor went to argue about it, but then they spotted Wade and Bruce chatting with another person in heavy armor while Nat was leaned against a fence a few feet away. The conversation had Bruce looking a bit nervous and confused, but he relaxed some when he noticed the trio approach. 

“Hey,” he said with a small wave, which was really weird to see Hulk do, “this is Gangslash, he’s a mercenary.”

“Cool name,” Tony mumbled before asking, “What’s up?”

“Shadows,” Wade said, sounding gleeful. “The woods are  _ crawling  _ with them since the Realm Walker was grounded and your powers were activated. Plus, the full moon is coming up so they’ll be able to fully form.”

“Why do you sound excited about that?” Clint asked, crossing his arms over his chest. 

“Because,” Bruce said with a sigh, “we’re getting hired to kill them since they’re after Tony.”

“Me?! Why me?!”

“Virgin magic blood!” Wade said, still sounding excited, “I thought we burned enough off teaching you that one spell but nope! We have to keep training you or more malevolent things are going to try and take your blood!”

“Please,” Tony said, the cold metal of his gauntlets soothed his oncoming headache some as he pinched the bridge of his nose, “stop sounding so excited.”

“How are you not excited?!” Wade continued, Gangslash forgotten, “It is going to be your first battle! You noobs will get to put on a show!”

“We fought a centipede,” Clint said, slightly offended. 

“Yeah, with your basic moves. This is going to be a magic battle!”

Great. Wonderful. Fan-fucking-tastic. Magic. Tony felt like he was officially going to be crazy by the end of this. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so the plans for the next chapter are getting a bit confusing because I already had it written but this chapter is completely new and doesn't exactly line up with all I already have written so I got to do editing of the next chapters before I even think about posting it. But, forewarning, basically for first half it won't focus on anyone in particular but the second half will focus on Bruce because I have plans for him.   
> From here on, it is should be less lore and more the team trying to get out and unlocking Peter's backstory. Plus, I still have to get to Thor's thoughts on everything so far, which I am also excited about because - no spoilers Tor.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bruce, finally! More Hulk actually, but Bruce! Guilt! Blood!
> 
> Some violence, I don't think it is too graphic but I was watching Saw last night while eating steak and mushrooms so...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, okay, so I said less lore but I got to explain this. Wade calls the bad creatures "sprites" but in Germanic lore they are called the neck, nicor, nixie or nokken (each of those names depends on geographical whatever) Ugh, but basically, they're sirens and not actually sprites but I'm not putting sirens in this as technically they're the same thing. It all depends on what lore you read, okay? Like a lot of people think pixies are evil and fairies are good but I was raised that pixies are usually good and fairies are typically bad. (that's why fairy tales were scary)  
> The lore isn't super important I just need to explain why they keep saying "bad magic" and things about "no sprites". Sprites = assholes and they make people even bigger assholes.  
> Also, Grammarly isn't working?

Okay, so if you're interested in lore on [nix](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neck_\(water_spirit\)), and Peter's weapon: a [halberd](http://www.medievalcollectibles.com/images/Product/large/MA-8503S.png) and I found Loki's [outfits](http://lyrisdesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/tumblr_mv92392HiI1r1n358o1_1280.jpg)!

* * *

 

* * *

 

Peter and Loki finally met the group around noon. Loki was sitting on the back of Leggy while Peter walked beside the spider with the Foot hanging from a  belt loop. Loki had that whole princely look going on, unlike his mage look he’d been pulling before. His hair was pushed from his face with a gold headband with little horns on them, which the team had to admit was kind of adorable. Peter had his hood up, which was new to the team.

“We’re fighting Shadows?” Peter said after Wade had excitedly told him about the job the mercenary was offering. 

“Yeah! They’re after Tony!”

Loki rolled his eyes some but said nothing about it when Peter placed a hand on his head. They’d relocated into a tavern where the girl that’d informed Tony about the sky port worked and she was giving Loki hard cookies and serving food to the rest. A few other servants would come and coo over Loki, which he accepted with a smile and a few compliments back to the pretty women. Thor was watching the Godling with that unreadable look, but Loki wouldn’t even give him the time of day.

“I figured that,” Peter said, “we should just bleed him a little and leave the drops in a trap.”

Nat sipped some of her ale. Peter was really adamant about wanting to take Tony’s blood and it was putting Nat and Steve on edge though they couldn’t figure out why. It didn’t seem that bad, taking a bit of blood. But, something about it made them both want to keep Peter  _ far  _ away from Tony. 

Speaking of Tony, he was reading a book on magic that Nat picked up from the upper level. He’d been over the book once already, but he’d taken to flipping back through it again. Loki would glare at him occasionally before Peter did something to take the Godling’s attention from the sorcerer. 

Clint dunked some of the bread into his stew, “How would that work?”

“Open a portal,” Loki said, “But we need magic to do that - bad magic.”

“It isn’t bad magic,” Peter said with an eye roll but even Wade shook his head. 

“City fae won’t open a portal so close to town and we don’t have time to get to a pure area to open it, so we are just going to have to fight them,” He downed some of his own drink and the server brought a refill. “We don’t deal with bad magic anymore, so we got to do this another way. Anyway, we have plenty of help. Shadows are nothing.”

“Until the Bloodlust kicks in,” Peter said matter of factly, “You and Bruce will destroy the city before it fades.”

“Please,” Tony set his book down, “Can we speak English?”

“Technically,” Thor jumped in, “We do not speak English now. It is called Common tongue.”

“Thanks,” Tony mumbled, “Can we speak Common?”

Loki sighed as if their idiocy physically pained him, “They are Barbarians. Once we begin a fight, much like a Berserker,” he gave a pointed look to Thor, “they will fight until all enemies are dead and the rage settles. Problem is that Shadows do not bleed.”

“A trap,” Peter said with exasperation, “We can just set a god damned trap.”

Both Loki and Wade snapped, “No,” so quick it made the team jump a little. Loki started to burn in a green flame, “We have decided, no sprite magic. We will handle this physically.” Peter just drank his ale and let Wade set the plans.

They would have to wait until night, then he would call some fae and he’d set a barrier around the city so once the Shadows formed, they couldn’t run or cause damage to the physical city. Everyone else would fight the physical Shadows then they’d have to find a way to calm the Bloodlust in Bruce. From what they explained, it was basically like Hulk getting angrier and just smashing until he calmed. Only now he’d want to actually kill something. 

“What,” Bruce said, “we are going to get something to actually kill? I don’t feel comfortable with this.”

Wade shrugged, “You’ll kill me. It’ll calm the rage and I’ll be up in a few hours.”

“Wait-” Nat tilted her head to the side, “We can’t die here?”

Loki was the one to shrug in response, “We haven’t tried, but Wade is cursed to be immortal. He married the Infernal king and-” Wade’s hand covered the Godling’s mouth. 

“I can’t die,” was all he said, but Loki was shaking with laughter so they got really curious. As soon as his hand was removed, Loki blurted out the rest.

“The king’s daughter had Wade’s babies and the King was so happy he cursed Wade to live forever so the monsters would continue to be made. She was so ugly! She had three faces and her skin was melting off and she had like six tails and she was so big!” His hands waved while he talked, trying to show just how big she was. 

“You married… the Infernal king?” Clint downed his drink because, yeah, they all needed a drink. “And had demon children.”

“Technically,” Wade said with annoyance, “she just ate my flesh to have the children and she only had  like four before Loki and Peter got me out of there.”

Bruce tilted his head to the side some, “There is something you’re not telling us.”

Peter drank instead of answering and Loki was vibrating with amusement, watching Wade with those big emerald eyes until Wade sighed heavily and continued. “The children,” he removed his hood and then tugged off his mask. His face lacked scars for the most part, only having scratches across his face like he’d been attacked by a cat or something and sandy blonde hair with streaks of black as if they’d been burned. “They eat celestial creatures.”

All eyes went to Steve, who looked a bit shocked because, well now they had two known enemies that could target the team specifically.

“But,” Peter said, “I can keep you out of their reach if we cross one.” Loki glared up at Peter, but the druid just shrugged, “So, it doesn’t matter if we come across one. Now, can we please prepare for this fight because Shadows are nothing to us but you’re all low level. I would rather not have to deal with more dead bodies.”

 

The day was wasted in the tavern, talking about random things and eating because they had a long night ahead. By night time, Wade had disappeared and Loki was bouncing in place. Thor had changed Mjolnir to her natural look and his Aesir armor was back. Loki wore his Godly outfit as well, though it was a tad bit more dramatic than Thor’s outfit with the fur-lined coat and the flashy staff. Everyone else was just wearing their usual armored outfits.

It was about twenty minutes until the moon came into view, but the area had darkened dramatically. It darkened to the point it looked more like a new moon with thick clouds rather than a full moon on a clear night. Even their torches seemed to do little to keep the darkness at bay.

Loki had drawn a circle on the ground and ordered they stay in it until the Shadows formed. Peter was perched on a fence post, glowing scarlet while Nat was glowing a sort of fiery orange and red, Clint a sort of greenish color and Steve was glowing blue. Tony had the smallest glow, a sort of blue ring on his palms. 

“I would love some music,” Clint mumbled, “Maybe it would make this shit less freaky.”

“Well,” Bruce said, shifting his battle ax between his hands, “we don’t have a bard.”

“I had thought Wade would be a bard,” Tony whispered back. They weren’t really sure why but they all felt like they should be quiet. 

A sharp whistle came from where Loki was standing on the corner of a building’s roof. Right when the whistle pierced the air, the shadows seemed to come to life as moonlight moved over the land and touched the ground.

You know how people imagine the Grim Reader? Fog and dark robes that swirl, a creepy face that is so dark you can’t really see it but it is there, dark eyes stare into your soul while you have no place to hide?

Yeah, that was how the Shadows looked. They came from where the moonlight cut across the darkness, swallowing the new white light up with their forms as they moved forward like ghosts. Their robes moved in a breeze that wasn’t actually there and it was unnerving. But, the Avengers had fought a handful of aliens so it couldn’t be much worse.

Peter was standing, drawing a halberd with his magic and twirling it in his hands. He whistled as well and a white dome began raising over the area. They’d relocated to the center of the top layer, where a large circle was. A fountain was in the center and bricks made a huge maybe thirty-foot wide circle of clear space. The Avengers were positioned around the fountain and the colors seemed to drain from everything as the dome completed over the circle. 

Nat manifested a cord, twirling it between her fists as she braced to leap from the protective circle. Thor twirled Mjolnir, static raising in the air and Steve shifted his shield for a better hold - they’d bribed Loki into shifting the shape into one similar to his back home. Clint dropped to a crouch beside Natasha, drawing his bow and stringing an arrow, the end glowing faintly. 

Shadows couldn’t be that bad, right? 

Red fire came up and the protective circle was burned away and the Shadows moved  _ quick _ .

Nat seemed to be the best against them, suddenly disappearing and then appearing close enough to wrap the burning cord around the neck of one of the monsters. Clint’s arrows didn’t do much other than draw the attacks to him because yeah, being shot at is annoying even if it does nothing. 

Bruce and Thor were mostly just smashing the forms, but Thor’s lightning made it faster as the light caused them to turn to a pile of ash and cloth while Bruce just mostly slowed them down so Steve could hit them with his shield that had a glow similar to Mjolnir. 

Tony’s magic worked a lot like his repulsors, so he was blasting and, honestly, if that wasn’t the coolest thing he’d done since they got trapped in this realm, he wasn’t sure what was the coolest. If the Shadows managed to get too close, he could just blink to another place and do more blasting. It was… there were a lot of lights and horrible screeching from the monsters when they were destroyed. Scarlet magic shot off like webs that wrapped and squeezed the shadows, Nat’s magic burned them up, Tony’s blasted repulsor-like beams, Thor and Steve worked like lightning. 

They’d honestly forgotten about Bruce in the midst of it because there were about a hundred of those terrible things, constantly coming from the darkness just to be destroyed.

Once they stopped coming, everyone was panting and tired because fighting for nearly an entire half hour with little to no break is tiring.

But the dome didn’t drop.

“Are we not-” Thor was cut off when he was suddenly hit in the chest hard enough to fling him back into the white glowing dome. It caused electricity to crackle where his body met the walls of the dome and Hulk roared. 

“Uh,” Tony grabbed Clint and they blinked out of reach just before that giant ax could hit either of them. “What now?”

Peter tapped the end of his halberd down, a loud ringing like the Liberty Bell stopped Hulk from going after Thor again and turn on Peter. Peter didn’t even look worried, just swung his polestaff at the Goliath’s legs and disappeared, replaced by a huge brown dire wolf. “Come on,” he barked in a laughing way, “Let’s dance, big guy!” 

The ax was dropped and Hulk charged the wolf, but it lept back and moved sideways with ease to avoid the huge hands. 

“What do we do?” Tony asked Clint, who shrugged. 

Loki appeared beside them, casting another circle. “Peter will hold him off until Wade comes.”

Those videos where babies chase after dogs and the dogs bark and jump in circles? That was what it was like watching Hulk and Wolf-Peter jump in circles. Peter was barking insults and jokes while Hulk let out angry roars that only got angrier the longer Peter evaded him. 

“I’m not big on cuddling,” Peter yelped when Hulk got a bit too close for comfort. His back paws pushed off the electric dome and Hulk almost caught the wolf when he flipped over-head, patting the giant on the forehead with a barking laugh before he shifted into a much smaller creature to get away. 

Just as Peter vanished into a field mouse, Wade was dropping from a building onto the Hulk’s shoulders, “Hey big guy,” he patted Hulk’s head affectionately, “how ‘bout a hug?”

Hulk was tired of playing with them, so he wasted no time grabbing Wade and crushing him in one fist to keep him in place. Wade gave a thumbs up to the group who watched in horror as his blood began to drip between Hulk’s fingers, the color finally returning to the area as the dome faded.

 

Bruce wasn’t sure what happened after the fight began. It was like turning into Hulk, his brain went offline and the other guy took over so when that red rage-filled cloud finally faded, he was sickened to find his hands covered in red and Wade crushed in his fist. 

He gulped and dropped the body, the corpse, his… victim. “What did I do,” he ran his hands through his hair, a move he was partial to when he was suddenly distressed, one he hadn’t done in a long time without fearing the big guy coming out. Wet stickiness ran through his hair like warm hair gel and that just made his stomach turn worse. 

“It’s fine,” Peter said, Leggy coming up with the druid to wrap Wade’s body up in webs like some sort of mummy ready to be dropped in a sarcophagus. “He’ll be cool in a few hours. He actually heals faster here than the real world. My guess is because Death doesn’t flirt with him here.

The team was obviously wary to approach. “I killed him,” Bruce said, voice soft and as small as it could be. It was a bit odd, hearing Hulk’s voice be so quiet. 

“Nah,” Peter said, drawing a sigil onto the wrapped body. “Let’s go, the realms should be closed better now so no Shadows can get out.”

The spider just picked up Wade’s body and carried him over to Loki, who was using his magic to clean the blood from the brick ground. “I’m thinking,” He said, “we should all drink.”

“Yeah,” Peter said, the eye roll evident in his voice, “because Sila will be so happy to have a corpse in the tavern and you can’t drink. We’ll just go to the cave.” 

Tony placed a metal hand on Bruce’s forearm, “You good?”

“No,” Bruce said honestly. “I’ve never…”

“Well,” Clint said, putting his bow away, “It isn’t like he is going to stay dead.”

“Yeah,” Steve said, a smile tugging at his lips even though he looked kind of pale in the moonlight, “He’s Deadpool.”

Bruce didn’t feel any better once they were in the cave. He’d literally crushed Wade like he was a bug. Killing the bug had been different, there hadn’t been that blinding rage. It had been quick. You don’t feel bad for crushing a bug, otherwise, they wouldn’t make fly swatters. But, Wade had crushed in his hand like it was nothing. It was like slime with little crunchy bits in it, oozing between his fingers and covering his hand in moisture. 

Loki had swiped the blood away with magic, but Bruce could still feel it. The warm liquid stained his hands, and it … it was sick that it appeased him in a way. It calmed him, feeling the life drain from Wade’s body. He actually felt the magic fall away with the man’s lifeblood. It had been cold in contrast to the blood, but both flowed like syrup over his skin. 

Even though the bloodlust was gone, even though Wade would live, even though Bruce hadn’t  _ wanted  _ to kill anything, he still felt that… that little beast deep down. It circled, pacing in this darkness, waiting to come out of its cage again. Before, Bruce knew that feeling was Hulk itching at him, itching to be out, to be free. He had been so angry before, all bottled up and hating everything but now…

Now the rage was different. He felt calm for the first time in years and Bruce… he honestly hated it. If killing a man gave him such peace, he never wanted to be at peace. Somewhere, something was laughing at him and his turmoil. 

“I can’t do this,” he whispered, “I can’t kill someone every time I rage out.”

He sat alone out in the stone quarry while the team was eating and resting because that had been a harder fight than they expected. Tony had been stabbed by one of the Shadows, Nat was drained and Clint was feeling ill from Tony suddenly blinking him out of danger a few times. Steve and Thor were propped against each other’s side, already falling asleep. Wade was still dead, being taken into the spider’s nest at the back of the cave and Peter was acting like this was all normal, making food and chatting about something Bruce didn’t care about.

“Are you alright?”

Bruce jumped a little, turning to see this child approach him with a mug. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“No,” Bruce said, “It’s alright.”

“These people,” Loki sat down beside Bruce and honestly, it was comical the size difference, “they aren’t real. What is it? Ones and zeros, that is all.”

“How do you know that?” Bruce glanced down at Loki, who was staring out towards the sky.

“Wade and I,” he said quietly, “we have been trying to get out. Wade thinks he knows how we got here, where we are. But,” green eyes flashed some, “something is wrong with Peter.”

Bruce watched Loki carefully. Why would he be giving this information over? He had tried to take over the world. Sure, it failed and the portal had been shut down pretty quick, but he still tried. “What do you mean?”

Loki sipped from his cup, “Bad magic. Sprites, they feed off dark emotions. Peter is full of them,” he glanced back towards the mouth of the cave as if scared to be heard, “when he was found, they tainted him. We had to get him cleansed lest he tried to kill everyone. He’s killed many people here.”

“What is here, anyway?” Bruce was a bit thankful the subject had taken his mind off of the last few hours. 

“Wade believes Arcade is working with someone else. If we had stayed in out natural forms, we could easily get out, but there is actual magic here. Arcade would have dropped us into a simulation and tried to kill us all that way, but this is different, Wade said.” Loki fell silent for a moment. “If Arcade teamed up with someone strong enough to rip open pocket dimensions, this could be a result.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Because, like myself and Thor, you are little changed,” Loki said, green serpent-like eyes meeting Bruce’s with a startling amount of sincerity. “I love Peter, he has done much for me, but he has been corrupted in this realm. If we are not careful, we will be trapped here forever.” Loki held up a hand, a little green flame coming up. “My magic is weakening, which is a sign we are not connected to Ygrassil. I have to draw magic from this realm and it… it is an odd magic,” he shivered. 

“What do we do?”

“Remember who we are,” Loki said before they both fell silent. 

 

It was around morning by the time Wade forced his way out of his cocoon, which woke everyone up because he yelled, “What? No welcome home party?!”

Loki bounced over, literally bouncing like a small child does, “Welcome back to the land of the living! Did Death finally talk to you?”

Wade just grabbed Loki, flipping them over and putting the Godling into a headlock, “Why would such a beautiful woman even give me the time of day, little God?” Loki lit himself on fire as he tried to get Wade to drop him, but Wade continued to mess up his hair, jokingly saying Loki was getting bugs, which only got more fire from the Godling. 

“I think,” Peter yawned, “you both need to go back to sleep.”

“Come on,” Wade whined, finally dropping Loki so he could grab some clothes because his had been mostly burned off in the faux struggle. “First we can’t make exploding cupcakes and now I can’t tell the boy he’s got bugs?”

“He does not,” Peter said, shaking his head, “Lo, come here.” Loki pouted, shooting Wade a glare and moving to where Peter had sat up. “I swear if he really has bugs, I’m going to kill you.”

Wade gasped, downing a flask of water, “Again?!”

The team was beyond confused. What the Hell was going on? This was… weirdly domestic. No matter how many times the weird domesticity showed, they’d never get used to it. The one time they’d all met Mary Jane, Peter had been awkward in that way where he wants her close but keeps her at arm's length at the same time. This was... uncomfortably personal.

“He doesn’t have bugs,” Peter finally said.

“Must have been my imagination. Oh well. Lady says hey, by the way,” Wade tossed a bundle of small bones at Peter, who caught it with a web of scarlet magic. “Lo, you still need a bath, let’s go.” Peter just rolled his eyes and flopped back onto the bed. “Everyone but Peter I guess is going to get a bath now, come on.”

It wasn’t even sunrise and Wade was dragging everyone into the woods. “Why are we going into the woods at the buttcrack of dawn?” Tony asked as a yawn caught the end of his words. 

“Bath time,” Wade said, using a sword to hack through some branches. “But seriously, wake up this is serious.”

“Oh, bath time is so serious,” Tony mocked, rolling his eyes. They hadn’t even been able to put on proper clothes so everyone was in linen night clothes. 

Loki glanced back to Bruce, eyes flashing. “I think it’s a good idea,” Bruce said, giving a shrug when everyone else turned to glare at him because they were tired. He had to admit, he was tired too. So, the walk was mostly in silence until they got to a clear pool. 

“Light it up,” Wade said to Loki, who put his hands up and the surface lit on fire. Wade’s magic came up a second later and the small pool and the group was surrounded in a thick barrier of magic. “Okay, so Death said she did some hunting and we were right, this is a pocket dimension. She isn’t sure how we got here yet, but she can’t pull us out because we’re tied in too deeply. We have to find who put us in here and break whatever spell is holding us and she said it is best to do it before Peter gets worse. I didn’t ask about the rest of you guys, but she said it is best we hurry.”

“Peter gets worse?” Steve asked, “What’s wrong with him?”

Loki gave a soft whine, “I can’t hold it.” The flames over the surface of the pool began shaking, dimming slightly. 

“I can’t explain it really,” Wade said quickly, “But our time here is getting limited. Here.” He handed them each a small amulet. “She said this is from The Ancient One.” Loki made a face and Wade shrugged. “But, put them on, don’t remove them and do  _ not  _ let Peter see them. He will try to get you to remove it.”

The flames fell and the barrier dropped once everyone had the small amulets on. Loki dropped to his knees, sniffling some as he rubbed his hands. “Okay, time to get your hair clean.” Wade dropped the Godling into the pool despite Loki’s protests. “You guys don’t have to get clean, but if you do, feel free. I can put barriers up for privacy.” They all had to agree, being clean sounded really nice because magic didn’t really do the job as well as water and soap. 

When they finished, Nat used her magic to dry them off because Wade only had one towel and they were all dressed before waiting to air dry because… nudity. “So, what is wrong with Peter?” Clint asked what they were all wondering because Peter seemed fine.

Wade shrugged, working Loki’s wet hair into a few braids that he tied together at the end, “Not sure exactly, but it has to do with his emotional state. My guess? The bad magic is making it worse.” 

Bruce hummed, “So, we need to remember this isn’t a game.”

“Nope,” Wade said, finishing the braid off. “As far as we know now, this isn’t a simulation. Someone rewrote this world and just warped reality to their own shape.” 

Loki huffed, “But we are still trapped.”

“Yeah, from what Death said, she does pull people from here so this is a world but it has been messed up, but she said it is rare so maybe not all of the people are real?”

“How?” Thor was pulling his own hair back into a bun. “If this is not a game-”

“She didn’t really explain. She just said it was a force beyond us and we need to get out as reality is warping. The worlds were renamed, the Gods were removed and someone else is controlling the strings.”

“Someone made a giant game out of a real world?” Steve asked, sounding appalled. “Who would even do that?”

Loki’s face was pale, way paler than usual, “Let's return to Peter. He should be done with packing and we can begin traveling to Carlo.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, we got a whole reality that has been warped and rewritten...  
> I wonder what could possibly do that?  
> Hmmmmmmmm  
> *laughs while also having difficulties writing the next chapter because family stuff*
> 
> PS before someone bitches about Peter's character in this: please go read Spider-Man/Deadpool the series with Itsy Bitsy. Spoiler, Deadpool winds up being more of a good guy. I can go on for hours about times Peter wasn't some golden boy and was actually toeing that line of good/bad. But yeah, everything I'm doing has a purpose! Please don't kill me-! Also, I got the idea of Loki and Peter being close from Amazing Spider-Man #504 and the whole kid Loki who I love so much. Not that it matters where I got the inspiration, just felt like sharing.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thor isn't jealous his brother has other people. Not at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I... I enjoyed writing this chapter.   
> Fun fact. Once I was getting beat up by some dude we lived with and my mum almost killed him but like she calmed down before he died and he lived but. Mommas don't play about them babies being threatened.   
> I threatened to punch Thor in the face earlier and then had to google if punching an Áss (I'm cryin because that is the singular form of Æsir) would get me into Valhalla. I should have made a better offering because instead, the rain got worse. #ReligionProblems   
> Amma right? Does anyone get how weird this is, loving the Marvel characters while having this religious view? It is like... Someone writing fanfic of Jesus, but not actually Jesus because it is a Jesus based on Jesus. WOw, I need sleep.   
> Enjoy. Or don't.

They were given horses and Wade bought a small cart to put their things in. Everyone was kind of tense because it had been easier to think of this place as a game, so much easier. 

Loki was sort of not ignoring Thor, he’d offered to play Mancala while the others were packing the cart and horses up, but didn’t offer any other conversation. The Godling just sat there, glaring at the board as he tried to think of the next move, then he’d make a move and look smug for three seconds before Thor made his move and Loki went back to glaring at the board.

“You do not have a horse?” Thor asked while Loki was trying to think of a move. He was slower in this young state, which was odd since he’d always been so much sharper than Thor. For once in a very long time, Thor felt like the older brother.

“No,” Loki said, making his move. “I ride Leggy.”

“What of Peter?” Thor made his move faster than Loki had, putting it back on Loki’s turn. “Does he ride the spider with you?”

“Yes,” Loki was getting a bit faster at the game. “He can communicate with the spider better. If I ride a horse, I typically have to ride with Wade as the horses do not like me. I kick them too much, Wade says. I say they should move faster and I wouldn't kick them.”

Thor laughed some. Loki had been a fine rider when they were younger, so it was odd imagining him having to ride with another person. Plus, there was the whole horse thing that one time... They played in silence for a few more minutes, taking turns.

“Why did you never come look for me?”

Thor looked at Loki’s face, but Loki was looking down at their game, pointedly ignoring Thor’s gaze. “I searched far and wide. Mother mourns you still.”  _ As have I. _

“Game over,” Loki said, moving from where he was seated in the dirt, “We ride now.” He left Thor to join Peter by the large arachnid, smiling and chatting with the mortal as they climbed onto the spider. 

Thor wasn’t jealous, why would he be? He had eons of time with Loki, he was Loki’s… blood.

_ But you’re not _ , a small voice whispered.  _ He is a Jotun and you a _Æsir._ _

Family is not always blood, that is what Frigga had said once when explaining why shield brothers are called such. Loki had been the one to ask, as Thor was leaving with his shield brothers and Loki stayed behind at the palace to practice his magic since he didn’t like fighting with swords.  _ “Brothers are not always blood, Loki," Frigga said, brushing his hair aside. “Thor will always be your brother as he will always be shield brothers with the Warriors Three.” _ That was around the time Thor felt they began to drift apart, not that he saw it at the time.

Thor was given a horse, the Courser that Wade called Arthur. Bea was hitched to a small cart, pulling it across the path easily. Tony rode Clint’s horse Oak and Nat was on her own horse. Bruce and Wade walked, but Wade was in front of the party while Bruce walked beside Nat. Clint was sitting on the little cart on top of a few bundles of their things that were stuck to the cart with webbing. Sometimes he'd throw a comment to Natasha or Bruce, but they made small talk. It was never much to focus on, just something to fill the empty air.

Wade was chattering on about something, but Thor was distracted, occasionally looking over at where Peter was rebraiding Loki’s hair, grumbling some when Loki would lean forward to throw things at Wade. They were so close, the three of them. The team was close, in a way that a group of adults that live together can be but not in a way so personal. Thor knew them all the least, but he considered them all his friends. He would fight with them and lay his life down for them, but he knew virtually little about them as he spent most of his time on Asgard. He might lay his life down for his companions, but his princely duties came first to the Avengers. Perhaps the rest knew each other better than Thor knew them. Perhaps he didn't put enough thought into the formation of relationships. 

Loki formed daggers of ice from the air, flicking them at Wade who used his staff to deflect them. “Is that all you go, little God?” Wade joked, walking backward to brace for more attacks. “You do not look at all scary. I’m scarier!” Wade tripped some and the horses let out whinnies that sounded like laughter. 

“I am, too, scary!” Loki cried, throwing small fireballs. “I’m a monster! I could kill you!”

“With your soft pink body?” Wade was joking, it was evident in his tone, “No, you couldn’t hurt a fly!” Loki was laughing but they continued to argue that Loki was indeed scary. They would make faces and throw more insults, some pertaining to Loki being Jotun and some pertaining to Wade’s sort of ex-demon-wife and fake husband. Wade was apparently having marital issues back on Midgard, and Loki had met the ‘old lady’ as Wade affectionately called the demon.

“Isn’t it weird?” Clint asked Thor, walking beside the horse. “How well they get along?”

“I have not seen Loki so… happy in a long time,” Thor said. So he wasn’t the only one watching the faux argument.

“Wade if you make him pull away one more time,” Peter was exasperated as he kept getting interrupted in his braiding. “You can fight Wade after I fix your hair, seriously why did you even let him attempt to braid your hair? You know Ellie doesn’t even let him braid her hair.”

“I know, mother,” Loki's tone was sullen, pouting while Wade made faces at the Godling and mocked Peter’s nagging. After a moment, Wade yelped and was trying to pat fire off his sleeve. 

“Damn little monster,” Wade grumbled once the green flames were out. By that time, Loki had been released by Peter and he was off the spider, chasing Wade down the road. 

“I’m going to kill you,” he cried, more ice daggers forming and flying at Wade. Wade let out a girlish squeal and took off running from the Godling. 

“Those two,” Peter said, shaking his head. “I’m going to die because of them.” 

“He was never like that,” Thor said, watching the two fight in the road ahead of them. “He was always more mature than I.” Thor would try to get Loki to go and play with him out in the field, had always urged Loki to be a better fighter, the only games they truly played together were games that did not involve fighting - hide n seek had been a favorite until Loki learned spells to make him much better and it was no longer fair. They would race horses when they were allowed to go out alone, but never would Loki willingly fight him without Thor’s goading and those fights ended in a trip to the healer's and Thor getting a new scar to show off later.

“He was raised as a prince,” Peter said, watching the play fight. Wade had caught Loki and was scrubbing his neatly braided hair with his knuckles which just made a mess of the smoothed down mass. “He wasn’t raised as a child. Plus, the spell, I think it changed him some, made him act more childish as well - not to mention...” Peter shook his head some when Wade flipped Loki over, making the child scream and kick.

“What was the spell?” Tony was curious because, well, Loki wasn’t some maniac trying to take over their world - he was a kid. A twelve-year-old kid who was fighting a giant man-child…

“I don’t know. He said something about a stone when he got his memories back. It was supposed to be on Thor,” Peter chuckled, “but he messed it up. I think he tried to reverse it, but it didn’t work.”

“A Norn stone?” Thor asked, eyes leaving the play fight to study Peter. He had a fondness on his face as he watched the two play. “ And why me?”

“He said he wanted to mess with you,” Peter shrugged, “he likes jokes. Once he and Wade made exploding cupcakes and gave them to this one neighbor who is always playing loud music… I’ve never seen someone so scared with frosting and sprinkles on their face.” Peter chuckled at the memory that sounded so like Loki. It made an ache pang through Thor’s chest as he thought about how happy Loki was without the Thunderer. Thor was always sullen if his brother decided not to give him company but it seemed the feeling was not shared.

“Once,” Thor looked back towards his brother, “he changed into a snake because I like snakes and so I picked up this little snake to pet and befriend. Then, he changed back and stabbed me. We were eight,” Thor chuckled some, pressing a hand to his stomach where the stab wound had been. “He has always liked playing jokes.”

“He wasted six gallons of paint when we were doing his room, filled balloons and kept them hidden. I kept trying to figure out what was happening to all the paint by the time we finished I had spent more money on paint than anything else. Then, I come home from patrol one day and I’m pelted in bright yellow, blue, white and brown paint balloons. He was already covered in paint and it took nearly an hour to catch him and throw him in the bath,” Peter had a fond smile on his face as he talked about the memory. “I think he still has some of them hidden, waiting to get me again. Wade encourages his playfulness when they aren’t pretending to be serious.”

“You painted a room for him?” Clint asked, looking a bit shocked, “And it wasn’t black and green?”

Peter gave the elf a confused look, “Why would it be black and green? His favorite colors are yellow and blue. We painted the walls yellow and then some chalk spots so he could write on the walls. The nine realms are on one wall, which took forever to get the right colors.”

“Wait,” Tony butted in, “he has his own room? I figured you just put him on the couch or something.”

Peter shook his head, “No, he slept in my room for the first few weeks since I was out most nights. We found a bigger apartment so he got his own room a month or two later. Wade sleeps in the living room now on a Murphy bed, but his things are in my room and Loki has his own room. Why would I put a child on a couch?” Peter honestly sounded offended by that thought.

“Because he tried to take over the world?” Clint offered. “He forced himself into my brain, made me…”

“Loki was hurting,” Peter said, tone harsh and cold as his eyes flashed scarlet over brown, “he had been tortured and damaged until he did as he was told. Sure, it was bad and he did it, but I can’t put that blame on a child or even on someone who wasn’t in their right mind.”

“He isn’t a child,” Tony argued, waving one hand and holding the reins in the other hand. "He's technically really old and is really just freeloading off you."

The horses reared as the party was surrounded in a circle of scarlet flames that went above Thor’s head, “He is a child now and if you speak of him as a burden again, I’ll kill you.”

The flames died and the team was shocked into silence. Wade and Loki had stopped fighting and came back over to the group. “Peter!” Loki said in a cheery tone Thor hadn’t heard since they were actual children. “Wade can hold me for five whole seconds!”

His pale skin faded to blue, his little headband seemed to melt into his flesh as real horns appeared and his green eyes were replaced by red ones. “Do it,” he said, hands up as Wade picked him up at the sides. Almost as soon as their skin touched, Wade’s skin began to blacken with frostbite. Once it got to his elbows, he put Loki down and Loki returned to his Aesir form. 

Thor had never seen the Jotun form and he’d be lying if he didn’t suddenly tense at the sight of the …  _ not a monster, _ Thor had to force the thought of Loki being a monster away. Peter gave a smile, “Congrats, you didn’t kill him again. Are you two done playing?”

“No!” Loki turned and went to attack Wade again, who had been distracted by watching his arms heal. Peter sighed loudly but he was smiling.

How could Peter just… take Loki in? He had no problems with Loki’s past? He was so fast to protect the God in a way… in a way Thor hadn’t been in a long time. Thor had grown tired of Loki's backstabbing, of how he'd lure Thor into situations that would get them in trouble and then let the Thunderer take whatever blame befell. Thor had been grounded, scolded,  _banished_ because of Loki and yet, he knew little of his brother. How was it that, in the short time Loki and Peter knew each other, Peter knew Loki better than Thor who had grown up with Loki? It wasn’t fair.

The air had begun to fill with static but Thor was deep in his thoughts, lamenting the loss of his brother. Had he ever been allowed to truly call Loki his brother? Why was Loki so comfortable with them when he wouldn’t even make small talk with Thor? What had Thor done to force Loki so far away? He had given Loki so much: his first daggers, taught him how to fight, brought him on hunts, introduced him to their friends, took care of Loki's horse son when Loki wasn't around, he did so much...

“Psst,” Tony used a glowing stick to poke Thor from his horse, “you’re kind of making my hair stick up.”

Thor blinked a few times to realize what Tony meant as he noticed the change in the air pressure due to the storminess of his thoughts, “I apologize.” Tony gave a smile and let Thor go back into his thoughts. How do you even ask a God how they're doing? It was just a touchy thing and it wasn't like any of the team did much of the heart to heart stuff. They made idle chit-chat, but that was it. Clint was chattering to Nat about something that didn’t make sense to anyone else, some past mission they’d done together that the rest hadn’t been involved in. Of the group, Clint and Nat had the most history.

Just realizing how ... distant the team really is weighed on Thor like a brooding storm over a mountain.

It was roughly noon when the group stopped to let the horses rest and eat their own food. Loki was panting and had mud on his cheeks, twigs, and dirt in his hair and Wade was sporting scorch marks and stab wounds. Peter just sighed and went about picking leaves and such from Loki’s hair while Wade fixed the food. 

It was uncomfortably domestic. The kind of uncomfortable domestic that you see when you visit someone’s home and the family can move and chat so easily that even though you are there, you aren’t connected? Maybe it was just Thor feeling left out, maybe it was the entire team feeling like watching the three move was something personal they really shouldn’t watch. Why was it Loki would let Peter wipe mud off his face but he’d get angry if Thor patted his hair?

“I did not know your favorite color was yellow,” Thor said, watching Loki get leaves picked from his hair. He wished he knew his brother more, wished Loki would  _ talk  _ to him. 

“Yes,” was the quiet response. “I suppose there is much you do not know.”

Clint was eating a piece of bread with some of the meat they'd packed, “Why do you wear green and black then?”

Loki blushed then, which looked so odd on him, “It, um, doesn’t make me look as pale.”

Tony laughed then, pressing his hand to his forehead. “You’re kidding.”

Peter watched Tony for a second before focusing again on untangling Loki’s hair. Loki puffed his cheeks out and was pouting, “Why do you wear tinted glasses all the time?”

Tony was silent and Clint was the one to laugh. Nat had a small smile on her face because they all knew Tony did it to look cool. Nothing was cooler than tinted glasses, as Tony had told the team many times while trying to get them to ‘dress with style’. Peter pulled a twig out and Loki winced sharply. “Sorry,” Peter mumbled, “you okay?”

“Yeah, that one was really in there.” Loki relaxed when Peter went back to picking out leaves. “Wade, when we get home can we make the special pancakes?”

“Do we have enough sprinkles? I have no clue what we still have. I was thinking cupcakes to send to that Russian guy that keeps sending me mail,” Wade handed him a bowl of the heated stew. “We’ll have to wait because if Peter glares at me any harder I’m going to be on fire.” 

“Please, no more exploding food,” Peter sounded so tired of the two of them, “I’m going to die if I spend the rest of my life with you two.”

Thor sat up a bit, “Why would Loki stay that long? I can bring him home now that I know he is on Midgard.”

There was silence for a second and the static turned to heat. “I,” Loki held his bowl close to his chest, “I’m staying on Earth.”

“But,” Thor put his own bowl down, going to stand up, “why?”

“Because I like it,” Loki’s voice was so small and if he wasn’t in Peter’s lap, he probably would have pulled his knees to his chest. He did that when they were little and someone would scold the two for whatever scheme Thor let Loki talk him into. “I like being on Earth. Aunt May visits every now and then and sometimes the cats will come to the window and -” he hiccuped and Thor realized Loki’d started to cry. 

His brother was ages old, and he was crying at the thought of leaving Earth behind. 

“But Mother,” Thor ran a hand through his hair, “Father. They miss-”

“Obviously not as much as you think,” Peter was holding Loki like he was _just_ a child, the Godling’s face pressed against his chest as he stroked a mess of raven hair. “He has been living in a two bedroom apartment, selling candles online and helping at an animal shelter every Saturday before we go to Ellie’s on Sunday for brunch. He hasn’t been hiding, he has tried to return home. If your father missed him as much as you say, he wouldn’t be here and Heimdall would have told you he was with me.”

Thor was… shocked. How could a mortal just say these things as if he knew how the All-Father felt? No one ever misspoke about his parents. No one misspoke about his home. Heimdall wouldn’t deliberately ignore a child’s pleas to come home, even if said child was Loki… He would have told Thor if Loki truly did call to come home… Right? They would not deliberately keep Thor's little brother trapped in a realm where he had nothing... No one. 

“Watch your tongue, mortal. I am a Prince and a God,” Thor’s words were hard and commanding, a king's tone. Thunder rolled in the distance, a cold wind coming through the trees. “Do not misspeak about our parents.”

“How about you watch your tongue,  _ bastard prince _ ,” Peter glared right back and something  _ snapped  _ in Thor. It was harsh and cold and foreign; like something had snuck in and tore his thoughts apart so suddenly that his mind just blanked out while pure blinding rage took over.

Loki was pulled from Peter’s arms by the spider just as Thor dove at the mortal. He didn’t even call Mjolnir, planning to just kill Peter with his hands. There was rain, cold rain that bit at his skin but all Thor felt was pure heat, sharp needle-like pain coursing through his veins and a tar-like substance covering his mind so he remained blinded by his sudden rage. It was worse than berserker rage, worse than any kind of bloodlust. “How dare you speak to a God this way,” Thor roared, going to hit the mortal but Peter slipped from his grasp just before he was struck. 

“You have no right,” Peter snapped back, his scarlet magic turning black as he summoned his halberd, “to speak to your so-called little brother as if he is nothing. You claim you love him?  _ Prove it _ .” 

Thor, he was used to being consumed by rage, usually, he controlled it so well but now… He had no problem with wanting to just snap Peter in half with his bare hands. It was as if something was pushing his rage forward, turning everything in him against his morals just for blood. No longer did Thor control the storm when the storm was suddenly controlling him - he felt powerful but weak in his lack of control. Thro was a puppet and he couldn't even force himself to be angry about it. “I’ll kill you,” Thor growled, thunder crackling as lightning flashed as he and Peter dove at one another.

Lightning struck and each time it missed Peter somehow, and Thor managed to evade each strike with the polestaff. Trees around them were on fire, wood splinters and stone bits exploded into the air with each strike. The few that hit their intended target did little but make the mortal scream in rage and attack much more forcefully. “I have killed rats bigger than you,” Thor yelled, tackling Peter just to be stabbed in the side with a dagger and they tumbled back into the dirt turned to mud. Their wounds stung with rain and dirt and whatever else that was pressing into their injuries, but neither acknowledged it.

It was mostly Thor trying to kill Peter and Peter trying to stab Thor, though Thor couldn't tell if Peter was actually trying to kill him as well. It felt natural, like two animals fighting to prove who was bigger, stronger, who ruled. If they were animals, perhaps it would have ended faster, or taken longer. There was no telling, time shifted when blood is being sought and neither could tell how long they’d attacked or how many wounds they received.

Thor wasn’t really sure if he was planning to kill Peter, but he was suddenly shot off of Peter, and Peter was pinned down to the ground feet away. Both were growling like animals and trying to fight the magic holding them in place, to continue fighting even if it killed them. They practically foamed at the mouth in their rage - Peter’s eyes shining black and Thor’s flashing with lightning.

Tony had his hands raised, holding Thor against a tree with his magic while Wade was holding Peter down. Loki was held back by Nat, both on fire as Loki was trying to burn his way out of her grasp, gold tears streaming down his face as he struggled, screaming at both of them to  _ just stop _ . Clint had his bow drawn, aimed at Peter and Bruce was by Tony to stop Thor if he got loose.

“Both of you,” Tony said in that tone he used when ordering bad guys around, “Calm down.”

“Why is his magic black?” Bruce asked Wade, who had knocked Peter out. 

“It’s the bad magic. It flares up when his emotions turn … dark,” He was healing the wounds to Peter, broken ribs, a few busted teeth and the number of bruises, broken or fractured bones and electrically related wounds, not that Peter had been moving like he’d been wounded. He gave as good as he got the entire fight. “Loki, calm down. You know how he gets.”

Loki sniffled, “I should have stopped him sooner.” Leggy moved over and wrapped Peter’s arms and legs up. “It’s almost as bad as-”

“Hush,” Wade said, taking Loki from Nat’s hold and the Godling stopped burning. “He couldn’t have done that anyway. He’d have died.”

“What is going on?” Thor blinked a few times, suddenly feeling exhausted and worn and  _ pained _ . His mind was foggy but at least his mind was back, that hazy cover was removed and guilt flooded his heart because Peter was not moving. Nat moved to assist Clint as they were not sure if Peter was safe to let up or if the fight would begind again.

“Sprite magic,” Wade said, “Drove you mad with rage. Peter and you would have fought until one of you died and then the infection would have taken over the winner. It is targeting you because you make him angry easily.”

“I,” Thor fell silent, noticing Loki’s tears. “Are you alright?”

Bruce and Tony shared a look, then Clint sighed and looked at Nat. “We shouldn’t travel with you three,” Tony said. “It could be dangerous.”

Wade nodded once but Loki went to argue. “We just need to kill the sprite.”

“We can’t,” Wade said, “You know that. We have no clue which one infected him. All we can do is keep him calm. Thor,” Wade ruffled his own hair some, blowing out a breath as he healed Thor with a wave, “you and Peter can’t argue. You can’t try to take Loki away. Faes, they become possessive. Peter is infected with sprite magic so he acts like a fae but he isn’t so he is still Peter but sick.”

“I was not trying to-”

“He thought you were,” Wade cut Thor off. “You two,” he patted Loki’s head, “you two can bond, but don’t make it seem like you will threaten Peter’s standing with Loki. He killed me three times when I suggested taking Loki from him.”

The team was shocked, which was becoming a usual state for them. “He, Peter Parker, killed you?”

“Yeah,” Wade shrugged, “But I come back so it doesn’t feed the infection. I think the infection is from whoever put us in here to keep us from getting out. If Peter refuses to go somewhere, he kills them.”

Tony sighed heavily, “Great. Curses, magic and now a murdering Peter Parker. What next?”

“Would dragons work?” Loki asked, a hint of amusement in his voice as he sniffled. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Peter is a Good Mom and no one can hurt his child. He will die for the child. Even if the child is centuries older than him and able to kill him with a snap of his fingers.   
> Children need love. Loki might not actually be a child, but he is a Trickster. I have like serious headcanon that all of Loki's antics are for attention because he needs Love. So, yeah, he's a child and someone is offering him love and fun, he's gonna take it. But, like, that spell fucked him up mentally as well as all that torture from Thanos and the Other so yeah, he got that neediness.  
> Am I an asshole to Thor? Yes. I am. Why? Because it has been raining for IDK how long and thunder gives me anxiety.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Violence, Clint skins a rabbit, seemingly unimportant technomage stuff, a flashback, and Loki.
> 
> Ya'll ever watch Cabin in the Woods?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gasp, Tory has finally returned with a chapter after being absent for... IDK how long it has been.   
> I was doing nothing. Skipped my classes, slept in, read some, just relaxing for the holidays.  
> Holidays? Mardi Gras, Ash Wednesday and Valentine's Day! So, yeah. I left some offerings for the holidays but really I haven't done anything but travel to and from the hospital. 
> 
> I got to say, I have done little editing so...

Peter was asleep for a whole day, and the entire time there was tension. What would it be like when he woke up? Thor apologized to Wade and Loki, though it was evident hours later he still felt terrible. They all knew the Thunderer could get angry but that was more than just rage. Who would get targeted next? 

“Murderworld,” Wade said when they were setting up camp to sleep for the night.

“Isn’t that that stupid Arcade guy?” Tony asked, setting up food since it was voted he was to do that? He really had no clue what he was doing, Dum-E usually made his smoothies so… 

“Yeah, but think about it. He pulls people together and it is a sort of fight to the death,” Wade was … knitting. He’d dropped a pile of spider silk into Loki’s lap and magicked up some needles and was knitting a large blanket or something out of the silk. “I love the whole game, but this is way more complicated and I’m not too excited about Petey Pie being in it.”

“Aren’t his things mostly simulations?” Bruce had heard that theory from Loki, but they’d already figured some people were humans.

“You ever watch Rick and Morty?” 

Clint swirled his mug of - they’re guessing it was ale. “That dumb cartoon about interdimensional travel.”

Tony waved a ladle at him, “Yeah. I think we rolled past it when looking for a show to watch. What about it?”

Wade shrugged, “They created a simulation and didn’t simulate abducted people but there was something about abduction and not abducting simulated people and-”

“So, some of these people could be abducted or some of these could be simulations,” Loki added.

“Peter will have my ass if he hears you watched that show,” Wade said, but twirled his needles, “but yeah. It would explain some of the lives Death pulls. I mean, how many of these people have backstories?”

“We are supposed to ask about backstories now?” Steve rubbed his temples. “This is getting far too complicated.”

“I think it might be more than just Arcade,” Natasha said, “I mean, he can’t take away powers and such but Peter isn’t spidery and you are lacking scars.”

Thor was the one to add the next theory, “Unless it is a glamor.”

“A glamour?” Clint asked, drinking some more of his drink. “What, like magic?”

Tony tapped the container of food over the fire, “Tech. There could be tech that is disguising Wade. But that doesn’t explain the whole Infernal king thing.”

Thor shrugged, “Perhaps it is a glamour. Loki is not the only magic user that can put up glamours.”

“Okay,” Tony said, putting his hands up. His brow was furrowed in concentration, eyes narrowed slightly in focus. After a brief second, his magic came up and holographic-like screens appeared. “Ha! I didn’t think that would work.”

“What I don’t get,” Clint said, setting his mug down to peer at the screens that Tony brought up, “if this place is all dungeons and dragons, no indoor plumbing and ye olde talk, how is it Tony can pull tricks that look like tech?”

Loki, who was still tangled in spider silk despite how much progress Wade had made in knitting, huffed, “Tech mages are not my style, but what I want to know is what is wrong with Peter.”

There was a bit of silence and the screens were still up. “Okay,” Tony grabbed one and Steve grabbed another. Tony just shifted some data around, “One theory, aliens. Stupid aliens that abduct and simulate people.” The only experience he had with aliens were the few that got through the portal, Loki, and Thor - so he just used an image from Rick and Morty since he had no better reference.

Steve turned a screen around, showing a ginger they had heard of, but never personally encountered - he was an X-Men problem - Arcade. “Arcade. But, this place isn’t as carnival as Murderworld usually is.”

Tony hummed, swiping a screen and Bruce grabbed one close to him. “So,” Bruce rubbed his temple some. Thinking as Hulk was difficult and the more he tried, the more a dull pain came behind his eyes. “Third theory, magician.”

Loki spat some web that got into his mouth, “Fourth, all three working under Thanos.”

“Thanos?” They all asked though Thor sounded more concerned than confused. Loki just looked away but Wade shrugged, signaling he didn’t really know. There was a tense silence for a moment before Steve shifted his weight to his right foot.

“We need a plan,” Steve said, tossing the screen so it would float away. 

But, the conversation was cut off because Peter groaned loudly. “I feel like crap.”

They all looked over where Leggy had webbed the web-slinger to a tree - his arms were at his sides and there were thick straps of webbing around his midsection, chest, and legs so his head had fallen forward in his sleep. “Can someone please let me down?”

“Are you going to kill someone?” Natasha asked, but Peter just gave her a confused look. 

“I wouldn’t…” But his eyes met Loki’s and he winced, “Sorry. What happened?”

Wade explained the whole argument leading up to the fight and then the fight itself - using very dramatic hand waves, far too many details that weren’t even true ( _ There weren’t any ninjas, Wade, just keep it straight. _ ). Peter looked uncomfortable, the most like the Peter the Avengers knew for the first time. He awkwardly scratched at his neck and tugged his hair some while avoiding all eye contact. After a second he finally looked up and looked over at Loki, “And then you put spider silk in his hair,” Peter sighed heavily, finally getting cut down by Natasha with a flick of her throwing knives. “Thor, man, look, I.”

“It is partially my fault as well,” Thor said, offering to help Peter stand since he’d fallen forward because of how the webs were cut. “I have always wanted to protect my brother and I have done a terrible job of that.”

“No,” Peter ran a hand through his hair, taking the assistance, “everyone does family differently.”

Thor and Peter fell silent and Clint broke the tension. “Now that Peter is up, can he make dinner because I don’t think Tony even knows how to work a ladle.”

There was some laughter and Peter gave his lopsided smile and went about cooking where Tony had basically given up. After cooking, and arguing with Wade to get spider silk off Loki, Peter went back to mother henning over Loki while Loki practically preened under the attention, smiling and making small chatter while Peter picked webs and dirt from the Godling’s hair. Thor backed off, but Loki would include him into some of their conversing - and Peter seemed completely fine with it. They’d all three sat down for a game of cards - though they weren’t really sure where Loki got the cards from. 

The atmosphere was finally comfortable. They hadn’t even realized how bad the air had felt, as if there had been something lurking around them, urging in the uncomfortable feeling of tension, mistrust, and anger. Finally, it was like they could all actually breath without someone busting out someone else’s teeth because ‘you’re breathing my air.’

 

It stayed pretty comfortable, but for some reason, no one would mention trying to get out or even their theories to Peter. Sometimes, it seemed like the conversation might turn to their theories, but they’d suddenly shift. Either Loki would blurt out something random or Clint would change the topic or even one of the horses would do something to stop the talking for a second. The amulets from the magicians back on Midgard remained hidden under clothes and talk of home remained little to none. Tony didn’t show Peter his new magic - he told himself it was because he liked the element of surprise but there was something tugging at him to not show it off. 

Steve and Thor were getting edgy towards Natasha and Clint, Nat and Clint remained close but shied away from everyone else, Tony and Bruce doing their ‘Science Bros’ thing. Loki was kept close to Peter, but the Godling didn’t seem to mind as Peter was mostly just pampering the tiny dork. Wade bounced between groups, but the animals were more partial to his commands than they were taking to anyone else.

The whole internal discord had grown so bad they almost split up because Clint refused to shoot a doe that had a baby deer with it when they hadn’t spotted any other game for three days and had run out of food because  _ someone  _ \- Tony - didn’t write the seals on the packages and so the food spoiled. 

Surprisingly and luckily, they also came across another mountain village around that time. 

The innkeeper was having problems with demons in their basement, so that was a thing but then they got a to stay for free so that was a bonus. 

Well, it would have been a bonus if they hadn’t started arguing over who would sleep where. 

“I think,” Clint said, “I should get a bed because I did like half of that exorcism.”

“You wouldn’t have known that exorcism if it wasn’t for me,” Tony argued back, shoving Clint’s shoulder some. They’d stripped their armor already, giving it to Leggy to wrap up and store against the roof so the floor was clear of everything but their rolled-up bedding.

“There is enough room you could sha-” Wade was cut off by both arguing males shooting him a very deadly glare. 

Clint pushed Tony back, causing him to run into Loki - which made Thor and Peter jump up as Loki tripped over one of the still rolled pallets. They didn’t even notice it and Loki didn’t complain since it had been an accident but the sharp tension was there and it took Wade patting the small spot of blood off the nape of Loki’s neck to snap it like glass.

The lamplight brightened almost painfully when Clint dove at Tony, causing them both to tumble back and hit a wall, cracking some of the brickwork.

“That the best you got, Merida?” Tony growled, kicking at Clint as Clint tried to grab him by the throat. Tony, he had some sort of fight training - he had to! He is a guy in a suit, not a super trained assassin or a God or a gamma radiated Hulk. He shifted his weight and kicked Clint up and off of him, but they had tight holds on one another so they both tumbled aside and knocked into the frame of one of the beds. 

Clint drew a knife, pulling back enough to try and swing it at Tony. Animalistic instincts are surprisingly enough to drive Tony through being stabbed in the side between two ribs and Clint didn’t even flinch when Tony kneed him between the legs with enough force to  _ kill  _ any sane man. 

Tony’s fingers dug into Clint’s face, scratching marks across the archer’s eyes and cheeks, lines of blood welling up enough to catch under Tony’s fingernails. They were growling, fighting like rabid cats as they clawed, kicking and punched at one another; Tony just knocked the knife out of his side so he could flip them and grab Clint’s throat. When their positions shifted and Tony was pinning Clint down, the rest of the team finally took the chance to break them apart. 

Thor grabbed Tony, putting him in a sleeper hold and Natasha literally kicked Clint out before allowing Bruce to grab him. 

“What was that?!” Bruce asked, being sure Clint had no way to slip from his hold. 

“I don’t know,” Wade said, running a hand through his hair. Tony looked like hell, he was dripping blood from his nose, mouth and a few stab wounds with bruises blooming across his face and under his linen clothes. Clint didn’t look too much better with claw marks across his face, busted lips and bruises painting his throat and arms. It took a moment before both were healed and Loki was looking between the two then he looked up at Peter, who looked as shocked as the others. 

“I think we let them sleep,” Loki said, grabbing up his pallet.

The choice was made silently. Nat and Clint shared one bed so she could be sure he was still alive and wouldn’t make an attack. Tony was put onto one bed - Bruce set up his pallet beside his bed so he’d be woken if Tony made a move. Peter had given Loki the third bed, but he handed it over to Thor, who in turn handed it over to Steve. Loki set his blanket up close to the window, curling up under about three blankets like a burrito - yes, Wade did say that - and Peter leaned against the wall next to Loki and Wade disappeared. 

Loki stayed awake, only pretending to sleep. He figured the rest would sleep as well, but at some point, Loki noted Thor and Natasha were still awake. Thor usually snored, Loki remembered that from their childhood even if he remembered very little. He sometimes got snippets of their lives together - Thor hanging out with the Warriors Three, Odin praising Thor’s prowess on the battlefield, other things that made him dislike Thor but he  _ knew  _ there had to be good times in their lives. No life could be purely bad… right? 

Loki’s life with Peter was nice - sure, there were a few times when Wade brought assassins home, and Peter would take his firecrackers if he threw them at the people under the window, but they had nice lives. Peter let Wade cook, he’d buy Loki anything he asked for, sat with him during nightmares he couldn’t actually remember later… Peter was a good family, but Loki couldn’t even  _ remember  _ life on Asgard. A lot of his memories came from dreams, or little things would trigger a short of flashback - if Peter yelled at Wade, he’d hear someone else telling him he was just a jealous child… Peter braided his hair and a soft voice would murmur that he was wonderful, despite what most would say. Seeing Thor again brought some memories, but they weren’t the nicest.

Thor’s eyes were a shining blue in the dark while Nat’s were a burning red. She just glanced at Loki, then to Thor before her eyes closed so only the two glows were left.

Loki whispered a silencing spell and slipped from his curled up blankets, crawling across the floor to sit beside the Thunderer. They sat there - Thor watching across the room and Loki staring down at his lap before he leaned against Thor’s side. Loki’s head barely came up to Thor’s shoulder, so when the elder Odinson shifted his arm to drape around Loki’s smaller frame. 

Loki fell asleep like that.

 

In the morning, Tony and Clint made up. Still, no one could understand what caused the rage but there were no hard feelings. Peter didn’t say anything about Loki having moved in the night, just washed the Godling’s hair and smiled kindly at Thor over breakfast. It was… odd. Nice, but odd.

They bought a bunch of supplies, scared some children with their giant Death Widow and Wade may or may not have had to hide from a farmer when his daughter waved a bit too nicely at the group. 

“How long until we get to … where are we going?” Tony had a bunch of bits of metal in some pouches, using his magic to weld them. He wasn’t sure exactly what he was forming, but it was slowly coming together. 

“Carlo,” Loki said from Leggy, “According to our map, Carlo is the biggest city and we can get to any other place from there. But.”

Peter sighed, “But, it is another few hundred miles downhill and into the flatlands.”

“How long,” Steve asked, his holographic wings flexing some. In some lights, they looked so real but in others, Loki could see the fakeness of the feathers and such. 

“If we travel fast,” Wade looked at a map, flipped it over and then lit it on fire, “Maybe a week? But, it could be as much as three.”

The group groaned and Loki gave a smile, “We could just jump off the mountain.”

Steve looked over at Wade, who shrugged and made a birdy hand gesture. “We could.”

“You’re the only one that can do that,” Clint reminded him. 

“Oh yeah,” Steve’s wings fluffed and he gave a sheepish smile. “Is there any way we can speed it up?”

Peter opened his mouth and Nat said, “That doesn’t involve bad magic?”

“Nope,” Wade said, twirling his staff some, “but, Carlo should have the main center so we can get anywhere.”

“Should,” Peter said, looking back at the group from the front where he was riding Leggy with Loki behind him on the thorax. “We still can’t get a single proper map for this place.”

“Huh?” Clint adjusted the reigns of Oak. “What do you mean?”

Wade waved his staff, twirling the pole between his fingers while the ends burned, “None of the maps line up. One or two will show the roads, some show roads we have seen while another will show roads that we didn’t see. It is like,” he stopped twirling the staff and waved it a few times, “The world has moved and no one actually knows any of the real roads anymore.”

“So,” Tony said, noticing his random metal work was a tiny figurine that looked like a six inch tall Iron Man, “we are traveling blind? You know, that kind of explains why the sky harbor wasn’t on the map.”

“Yeah,” Loki shrugged, “That's how we fell into the Infernal. The realms were split open for some time as they were moving and we went,” he waved his hands and clapped once, “flop, right into the Temple.”

“Ice temple,” Peter said, “And they were very confused.”

“We did sort of drop out of the ceiling,” Loki laughed some and stretched. “We might get there sooner than we think since the realm is so shaky.” Tony focused back on his tiny metal man, Clint was making arrowheads with some flint he bought, Nat was meditating, Thor was petting a tiny bird that landed on his shoulder at one point while Bruce was just admiring the nature of the mountain as they walked. The path was going pretty downhill in a spiraling way, so it was an even longer walk than if they just… took a chance going off the road straight down. 

“We could sing a song,” Wade suggested, balancing his staff on his forehead. “I was thinking  _ Baby got back _ .”

“How about  _ Immigrant Song _ ,” Tony suggested, eyes still on his little man.

“How about something normal?” Clint said, “Like one of those dumb road trip songs?”

“How about,” Peter waved his hand some, “ _ Well, we know where we’re going. _ ”

Tony quirked a small smile, “ _ But we don’t know where we’ve been. _ ”

Thor looked a bit confused, so Clint laughed but continued the song, “ _ And we know what we're knowing, but we can't say what we've seen _ .” Loki flashed a smile, adding his part.

“ _ And we're not little children, and we know what we want _ .”

How they all began singing the same song was a bit odd, but it was filling the time as they traveled so no one was complaining. 

 

“It has been two days and I am so tired of walking,” Tony said, the tiny metal man he’d been making was tucked in his pocket. It took some focus but it would do little commands which was amusing when he was bored. It was like having Dum-E again. 

“Well,” Peter said - Loki and Wade had disappeared into the woods because Wade said he saw a pixie and Loki was looking for flowers? - “I know how we can travel faster.”

“Oh?” Nat said, her eyebrow raised in that way she gave Fury since she had no trust for anyone.

“We travel through the Shadow,” Peter said, slicing a potato with a small blade. “We have a Realm Walker-”

“Speaking of,” Tony pointed out, “Jarvis never said anything about those.”

“They’re from this world,” Peter shrugged, “Loki did a lot of reading so he knows most if not all the lore of this place. Only about 60% actually lines up with D&D.”

Clint was skinning a rabbit while Thor was trying to start a fire because he swore he could do it without magic or anything. So far, he’d broken five sticks and cut his hand twice but he refused to give up so they were letting him continue on. Maybe in the next hour, if it didn’t come up, Nat would give him a bit of help, but no one would say anything if it just  _ suddenly  _ started burning. Steve was cleaning their weapons because… why was he even doing that?

“We could go into the Shadow, travel, and be out before anything even happens.”

Tony looked skeptical, “Why does that seem too easy?”

Nat spoke up, “Because,” her red eyes met Peter’s brown for a slight stare down, “there is a chance you all would be murdered.”

“Why?” Clint asked.

“Because,” Nat rolled her eyes some, “the Shadow is kind of like this between realm where things are neither living or dead. There is no light, color,  _ air _ .”

Peter tsked, “But travel is faster. Two minutes max and we could be at the bottom of the mountain.”

“What about the bottom?” Wade emerged from the woods surrounded by small orbs that glowed in different colors. 

Loki had an arm full of flowers, mushrooms, and other flora, plus an olive leaves flower crown that was entwined with little golden roses. “Baba says hi.”

Peter smiled, “I see that. Wade, we don’t have the things your friends would like.”

“What is with all the tiny glowing people?” Clint asked and the fey turned to him in interest. Most of the feminine figures wore flower themed outfits - dresses made of petals, leaves or even bits of snow - while the masculine figures were bare-chested and usually themed more earthy things - mushroom caps, moss pants/shorts. All ranged from being dirt dark skin tone to gray color of stone and the bigger ones were a mix of colors as if they actually had flowers and such growing across their skin in spots. 

“An elf,” one rolled his coal black eyes, “great.” He had green wings while his skin was the color of dark fertile dirt and his hair was tucked under a bright red mushroom cap.

“Come on,” a lavender dressed one said, shoving the dirt fae, “Pursni is always so rude.” She fluttered up close to Clint, betting her big purple eyes at the archer. “I love elves.”

“Come on, L’anada,” Wade said, “no elves.” She pouted but didn’t leave Clint’s shoulder as she watched him work with the rabbit meat. 

A larger one, maybe the size of a squirrel with marble skin went up to Tony, “He’s the odd one?”

“Yeah,” Loki said, dropping his bundle of vegetation down in front of Peter, “can you check him?”

“Again,” Clint said, a bit unnerved by the number of tiny people fluttering up to him, “what is with all the tiny glowing people?”

Wade stuck what looked like a tiny orange into his mouth, “Their memories aren’t altered as badly as the people so they're the best bet to figure out what is going on.”

The marble one whose eyes resembled the surface of one of the counter’s in Tony’s kitchen - all deep gray with cracks of black and white - inspected Tony carefully. The billionaire was used to people staring and questioning him. “We have another,” was all he said before turning away. It didn’t even fly, just walked at a pace that said it was old and used to life.

Wade was pouring boiling water into a cup - where did he get the water from? Thor hadn’t even finished the fire. “Great, can you tell us how to get to … anywhere?”

L’anada stood from Clint’s shoulder, fluttering over to Wade, “I’m the navigator! I can tell you where to - is that an Infernal!” 

All the fey were suddenly drawn away from inspecting the party to crowd Natasha, who’d been having a weird sort of staring contest with one fae that looked like a tiny flame maybe three inches tall. She was bombarded suddenly by little earthling creatures, all offering compliments about her skin, hair, eyes, tail, horns, the rings, her magic etc etc etc. 

“Don’t let them too close,” Peter said, glaring at the marble one, “they’re little tricksters.”

“Says the sprite boy,” Pursni said, rolling his eyes again, “Loki, why do you hang out with these fífl?”

Peter growled lowly, but Loki gave a bright smile, responding in a language none of them knew but Thor looked a bit interested so maybe he knew? Pursni continued to argue with the Godling, but Loki shook his head and went about dropping flowers into the cup of still hot water. “Do you want tea or not?”

Pursni and the other fey surrounded the cup and Loki had to do some magic to get them all cups to hold. 

“So,” Nat said, “how would we go about going through-”

“The Shadow is too dangerous,” one fey said, sipping her tea, “but we can get you a quick route to the main city. Our maps had to be redone after the new Gods came in - but we got it.”

“I got it,” L’anada said, wings fluttering in a proud way - they knew it was pride because sometimes Steve’s did the same thing where they shook in excitement.

“Whatever,” Pursni said. “She got it because she used her magic to seduce a Lord and then he tried to rip her wings off.”

“I didn’t use magic! You’re just angry because mortals don’t like you!”

The afternoon went mostly with Peter cooking, the group set up some games because boredom and the fey were drinking and convincing Loki to do magic tricks - most involving pulling pranks on the group. 

By sundown, the place had a soft glow from the magical creatures and they were relaxed for the first time in days. “So,” Clint said, a hand rested on his knee so L’anada could sit on his hand, “Loki, how’d you rope Spider-Man and Deadpool to be roommates?”

“Ooh,” Fira - the flame fae - cooed from Natasha’s shoulder, “story time!”

Wade was holding Pursni, much to the disliking of the magical thing, “Ooh! I love this story!”

Loki hummed, tapping his chin, “Let me think.”

 

***

_ Deadpool was sitting on the rooftop, drawing some gory cartoon picture with his crayons when Spider-Man came swinging in. “You called?” _

_ By called, Spidey meant Deadpool had spray painted the side of the Daily Bugle building with his logo and ‘the roof’.  _

_ “I was wondering,” Deadpool said, handing over his drawing, “do you know of a place I could stay for a few days? My place got a bit… flamed.” _

_ It took a few days of Loki trying to convince Peter that maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea. Wade sounded fun to Loki - but Loki was a kid so of course, the lunatic Peter griped about a lot would sound fun. Loki wasn’t a God then, he was some messy haired kid who liked to make cupcakes and was really smart. So, Peter brought Wade home one day. _

_ Wade and Loki clicked instantly, both finding ways to annoy Peter, both giving him major headaches because of their harmless pranks. Peter found camels all over the bathroom one day - fake plastic ones. Then, at supper, everything was dyed purple and Loki had cat whiskers drawn on his cheeks. Every day was something new, but it was nice. Peter did his work during the day, Loki did random reading because Peter had a library card and Wade taught him different things.  _

_ It was about two weeks after they had all fallen into a comfortable routine of Wade cooking, Peter cleaning and Loki just being a random little kid, that Wade was standing in the doorway with his bag over his shoulder. _

_ “Well,” he smiled, “I got to thank you a lot, Spidey.” He shook Peter’s hand and both tried not to notice Loki sulking off to the side. “I’ll be out of your hair now. But, we’ll totally hang again la-” _

_ “He can’t leave,” Loki blurted, green eyes flashing as he came up with his plan. “What -what if he leaves and he tells someone your secret identity? How much would the ID of Spider-Man go for? A lot of money! Then, what if he accidentally tells someone - like Weasel. Weasel would ask where Wade’s been and then he says ‘Ah ya know, with Peter Parker’ but Weasel would know that Wade had been with Spider-Man so-” Loki stumbled over his words at the end, crossing his arms over his chest. _

_ Wade and Peter were a bit shocked because it wasn’t like Wade would do that, he liked Peter. You don’t ruin your friend’s lives. Right? _

_ “We probably have his DNA in here somewhere,” Loki sounded more confident as he talked, “who is to say we wouldn’t sell it and get money? Someone could break in and kidnap me because they know Wade doesn’t live here. So many things could happen if he left and... And it would be on you.” _

_ Peter glanced at Loki. Of course, he knew Loki was playing them. This was Loki begging Wade to stay without actually saying the words. Wade probably knew it too. They shared a look and Peter shrugged. _

_ “How about you stay another night?” _

_ “That’d be nice.” _

***

The fey were giggling and saying how nice the story was, but Thor gave Loki that ‘why brother’ look.

“You manipulated them for your own gain?”

Loki shrugged, “They did not get angry.” 

“It wasn’t like I didn’t know,” Peter said, reaching over to flick one of the many flowers in Loki’s hair. “I mean, the kid has a way with words but it wasn’t like it hurt anyone.”

Wade nodded, “Ellie is pumped about it because now she can come over during holidays.”

Tony set his cup down, “Who is Ellie?”

“An important person,” Wade said, but his eyes said not to ask any more about it. 

Pursni yawned like he was bored, “I’m leaving. We should all go soon or Baba will have our wings.” There were a few agreeing grumbles before the fey left. Pursni waved to Wade once before disappearing into the woods. 

“Well,” Wade said, pulling a small bag from his pocket, “Who wants to fight a werewolf?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pursni reminds me of a parsnip. L'anada is like lavender. And yeah, they might fight a werewolf. Not sure yet.   
> ALSO, I'm looking for a lady to take to the movies so if anyone is looking for a 5'3 Hispanic girlfriend who looks way edgier than she actually is - hit me up because I have money and I can cook and clean and I have 5 dogs and 3 cats now. Total catch.  
> That wasn't what I was planning to say - ya'll got Spotify? Search up Thor: Ragnarok on Spotify. Good ass playlist.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A new player has entered the arena, unauthorized.

“We are not fighting a werewolf,” Peter said, crossing his arms over his chest. Werewolves were pointless to kill, unless they had loot. But if Wade had the location of one, that meant it probably didn’t have loot and it was just some stray.

“Why not?” Tony asked, “I wanna fight a werewolf.”

“I mean,” Wade began but was cut off by Thor.

“I think it could be entertaining.”

Wade kept trying to butt in, but the team was set on fighting a werewolf. Clint badgered Natasha to agree to fight a werewolf, Steve just sighed and said whatever and Tony was getting hype, claiming how cool it would be later to tell the story of how they fought a werewolf. Eventually, Wade just gave up, “It is about a day before we reach him. Get rest.”

 

The next morning, once they were on the road again, they began trying to get information on the werewolf - how did Wade hear about it, how do you fight one, is it going to be hard - those things.

“Did baba tell you about the werewolf?” Peter asked, walking instead of riding since they would have to leave the horses behind eventually since they couldn’t go through the woods.

“Sort of,” Wade shrugged and then looked down at a piece of parchment, “this way.”

They left Leggy with the horses and then went stomping into the woods. Tony was flicking random things at Steve, making the super soldier grumble and glare. Nat and Clint were silent and honestly, the others didn’t even realize they were still following until one or the other would appear close. Thor and Bruce stomped through the woods so it was a good thing this wasn’t a stealth mission. Loki kept throwing rocks at Tony after Steve told him to quit being a child so they were doing their thing, trying to peg the other with small stones but they kept missing. 

“We’re fighting a werewolf during the day?” Bruce asked, and Wade sighed again. 

“Yes,” was all he said before slicing through more branches. It took a good hour - one that included Steve and Nat telling Tony and Loki to  _ quit throwing things. _ Thor had found a rabbit and was arguing with Clint that they weren’t going to eat it, it was too cute. Bruce just sighed heavily at them all. Peter was ignoring Wade, who had asked him to kind of control Loki but Peter was salty because they were going to fight a werewolf.

The woods opened up to a small clearing and a little cabin nestled into the green space. “Ah,” Wade said, “here we go.”

The house was eerily quiet, with no signs of life around. “Are you sure?” Steve asked and before anyone could really say anything else, the back door flew open. Wood banged against wood, the entire structure rattling with the force of it. Everyone jumped and all but Wade got into a defense stance. 

“Yo,” Wade called, skipping to the cabin. “Man, am I pumped to see you here!” 

Logan punched Wade before he could get any closer, making the merc fall back onto his ass. “This is yer doing,” He growled, stalking closer. Unlike the others, Logan wasn’t dressed for an old-timey fight. Logan looked like he had just been woken up after a night of drinking and sex. “I should kill you,” he huffed, pressing his boot into Wade’s chest. 

“Good to see ya too, mate,” Wade wheezed, “but I needed your sniffer.”

“That’s not a werewolf,” Peter said, entering the clearing. He got two steps before Loki ran out, jumping at Logan. Wolverine was startled by the sudden attack, his claws extending before he retracted them after getting a look at Loki. “Loki, don’t do that.”

“What the Hell am I doing here?” Logan ran a hand through his hair and Loki started talking a mile a minute, something about magic, sprites, dragons, and - “Daredevil isn’t here.”

“We know that,” Loki said, huffing some, “I was just saying that. Can you get us out?”

“I could have done that better without being here,” Logan grumbled. He noticed the rest of the team and gave a small sniff. “How’d the Avengers get trapped here?”

“Magic,” Tony said, sounding like it was the worst thing in the world. “How did you?”

“Demons,” Logan said and Loki was tugging at his wife beater, trying to correct him but Logan wasn’t interested. After Logan ignored Loki a little longer, the Godling gave up and went over to Thor to bother him instead. Thor seemed fine with it until Loki set his cape on fire so they were running in circles, yelling while the rest approached Logan. 

Wade was up. “Man, isn’t this fun?” Peter shot him a look that said it totally wasn’t.

Steve shook hands with Logan, “I have to say,” the soldier gave a smile, “it is a bit nice to have you here.”

Logan went to speak, when Wade punched Peter in the face.

“What the Hell?” Bruce asked, a bit startled. Wade just caught Peter, laying him out and calling for Loki. Loki glared at Wade for a second before putting his hands over Peter and whispering a spell. Thor looked a bit confused but didn't ask.

“It’s safer,” Wade said and Logan nodded. “One of us is some kind of spy. Or an agent of Arcade or whoever put us in here. Our best bet at this point is that it’s Peter since he is the most out of character,” Wade rubbed his chin in thought, “but that would be obvious so maybe the author has someone else as the mole and is leading us all to believe it is Peter when he’s really the one that could save us?”

“You’re talking just makes even less sense the more you talk,” Tony mumbled. 

So, they sat down and they explained what was going on to Logan. He kept sniffling as if something was bothering his nose while they talked. “Loki,” he said after they explained the last fight, “give me your hands.”

The Godling looked at Thor, who shrugged so Loki put his hands out for Logan to take. The wolfish Canadian sniffed his palms some, “You can heal fast?”

“Ye- _ ouch! _ ” Loki yanked his hands away, yelling some when Logan snapped his index and middle fingers. Before Loki could ask, Logan struck Wade who had pulled out a knife and went to dive at him. Tony snatched Loki up by the waist, dragging him back while Wade kept trying to stab Logan. Nat looked at Clint, who just shrugged and they all moved out of the way.

Of all the fights, theirs was the fastest once Logan knocked Wade in the head with his boot and held him down for a few seconds. Loki was whimpering, holding his hand to his chest even after it had healed. Bruce carefully checked the injury over, confirming his magic had healed it properly. 

“Well,” Logan said, sniffing again, “don’t let the kid get hurt is one thing I can tell you.”

Steve nodded, “Understood but, couldn’t you have just said that?”

“Nope,” Logan helped Wade up, “he stole my wallet last time I was babysitting.”

“It wasn’t babysitting,” Loki whined. “Can we wake Peter up now?”

Clint nudged the seemingly comatose guy with his boot, “Is he going to attack us? Or?”

“No,” Wade said, rubbing his head some, “but he’s going to be angry.” 

Nat glanced at the sleeping form, “I would be too.”

It was decided, they’d follow Logan. He might be new to the realm, but he could sniff things out so it was far better than the maps that weren’t much help. Peter had in fact been angry, but he got over it after Loki distracted him with something else. The treck back to the horses felt even longer since Logan kept complaining that it smelt like horse and pigs in the woods, but they all had to kind of agree. It did smell like horse.

“How long has it been since we fought anything?” Clint asked when they got back to the horses. “I feel like we’re going to be coming up on a new threat soon.”

“Same,” Nat said, her tail flicking to the side some. Her eyes narrowed towards the woods, but she said nothing else. 

“Maybe we will get lucky and find a way home before we have to fight anything,” Tony said, snapping his fingers and doing finger guns at Steve, who just rolled his eyes. 

Thor, with his rabbit in hand, agreed with Tony. “Maybe we will be lucky.”

“Luck isn’t my style,” Loki said flashing them all a smile. Tony threw a rock at him, aiming for his eye but Loki dodged it. “Haha, you suck.”

“Why you little,” Tony was throwing more rocks and Loki was throwing them back. Logan just sighed heavily, mumbling he didn’t know how Peter put up with them for so long. Peter shook his head and admitted he wondered the same thing.

Clint tossed a stick at Nat, but her tail slapped it away before she was hit. He scoffed and kept throwing things that she kept deflecting before she wound up throwing something back. The horses whinnied loudly, bucking a bit to tell their riders to stop it with the nonsense and ride. 

Thor named his rabbit Small, he and Bruce were petting it and passing it back and forth. It was large for a rabbit, with ears that stuck straight up and large eyes lined with black fur that looked like it wore eyeliner. Thor was afraid to put it down since it was liable to run off, but he knew it would want to hop around. 

Steve rubbed his temples, “How do we all live together?”

“We barely actually see one another,” Tony said, calling a truce with Loki. “Game nights are the only times we all actually meet up. Even then, it sometimes ends up with us fighting.”

The team fell quiet. It really was true. They barely saw one another. Tony was usually doing his thing with his company, Clint and Nat worked with SHIELD a lot, Steve was usually out and about in the world and Bruce was typically in a lab or his room. 

Logan grumbled, “You’re a pretty shitty team.”

“Rude,” Tony pointed out, “we work great together.”

Wolverine just huffed. 

“Why are you a werewolf?” Steve asked after a moment. Logan glared at Wade hard enough to set the man on fire if he had the power to. 

“He had to be assigned something,” Wade finally said, throwing his hands up, “Wolverine, werewolf. It made sense.”

Tony shrugged, it did kind of make sense. Nat shook her head, defeated by the simplicity of Wade. Clint smirked a bit, hating to admit that it was true. 

“You guys know what would suck?” Wade asked, poking the ground with his staff some. No one seemed willing to add to his question, so he continued on his own. “If we got separated. I mean, it would suck. How would we get out? Where would the story go then?” 

“I hate when you say things like that,” Peter said, throwing a rock at Wade. “It is like you try to jinx us.”

“Or,” Wade poked at Peter on the spider with his staff, “I say it so the author can hint at what they might do with the plot.” Loki giggled and said Wade had a good point. 

“Sometimes,” Tony mumbled, “he makes so little sense he makes some sense.”

The team nodded in solemn agreement. Logan sniffed the air again. Whatever he smelt, it had to be bothering him because he kept sniffing the air. Clint went back to annoying Nat and Thor let Loki hold his rabbit while Tony and Bruce started talking about some experiments they could do when they got home. Steve and Logan chatted some, but neither were big talkers. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been on and off being sick, working on this and another fic, dealing with family stuff. Ugh. I have taken on too many struggles.
> 
> I'm not sure when the next update will be, I plan for it to be longer than this chapter but I also have to plan out my schedule so I can get back to my classes and fuck. I've been depressed and sick and angry and now it feels like I'm making excuses. Oh well, I'll get my life sorted soon. I see my therapist soon so that's nice. I've got 3 days worth of my ADHD medicine left so that isn't going to be fun. Its been like 3 months since I had my antidepressants or insomnia meds? I have to get my life back on track, fuck.

**Author's Note:**

> Ya'll I am pumped about writing this. I'd love some, well, love!  
> OOhhh, tumblr! I have a personal account isn't able to receive messages but! I now have a purly fandom page!  
> https://dangerousenthusiastobservation.tumblr.com/


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